


Rule Breaker

by OtakuGirl11324



Category: Naruto
Genre: I had plans for a second story, M/M, Multi, Read at Your Own Risk, SasuNaru - Freeform, Yaoi, dont hate me for the plot holes, or the unresolved Akatsuki thing, this was my first long fic so it isn't great
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-01 04:45:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 83,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4006327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtakuGirl11324/pseuds/OtakuGirl11324
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto is hated by almost everyone. He has few friends and has to follow these crazy rules that his foster parents have given him. There's also a new student this year, Sasuke Uchiha. Could he be more trouble than he's worth, does he really want to be Naruto's friend, or is the Uchiha up to something? Let's not forget to mention the Akatsuki, what could they be planning for Naruto?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Naruto is going to be ooc so if you don't like ooc characters then this isn't for you. I hope you like it and I will update as soon as possible.

Chapter 1: Who Was That?

The fact that I have to walk home alone in the dark scares me. Anything could happen at any time. Someone could jump me. They could kidnap me, even though I have no idea why they would want me. They could kill me. I have no idea what to expect. You see, I'm not that liked in our town, Konoha. They all see me as some screw up, that I should have never been born. That I should leave the town and never come back. They think I'm just another orphan that can't do anything right, well they're right.

My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I had no parents until just last year. They are nice people, for the most part. The thing that I don't really like about them is that they have a set of rules in which I must follow, if I don't follow the rules then I'll get punished.

Rule 1: Finish all my homework before I do anything moderately fun.

Rule 2: Don't speak unless given permission.

Rule 3: My room must be clean at all times.

Rule 4: The music cannot be loud enough that they can hear it, and I can only listen to music that they approve of.

Rule 5: I cannot close my bedroom door.

Rule 6: Never bring someone over without a two day notice. If I do bring someone over and they don't like the way that they looked, acted, or smelled like, they would forbid them from entering the house.

Rule 7: I must follow all orders given to me without hesitation.

Rule 8: I have to do my own dishes and laundry.

Rule 9: I can never fail any classes. I can only have a B or above, they don't tolerate anything below a B.

Rule 10: If my parents aren't home, then I cannot do anything that has to do with the living room or the kitchen.

Rule 11: No dating.

Rule 12: Being gay is a sin.

Rule 13: I cannot miss any school.

Rule 14: No technology of any sort in the house.

Rule 15: I cannot leave the house after 10:00 p.m. unless permitted.

Rule 16: No swearing.

Rule 17: No fighting.

Rule 18: I can never invite a Haruno, Yamanaka, Hatake, Inuzuka, Hyuuga, or an Uchiha over to my house. I cannot be friends with them either.

Rule 19: No talking back in a rude or disrespectful way.

Rule 20: Come straight home after school, and no joining after school activities.

Rule 21: No dyeing my hair, no scary clothes, and no getting any piercings or tattoos.

And finally, Rule 22: Never tell anyone about what happens at home.

I have managed to deal with these rules for the most part, but then they always end up adding new rules if I do something they don't necessarily like. I don't mind the rules as long as I have someone to finally call my family. I just don't want to have to go back to having nothing again is all.

I see a dark spot up ahead of me so I slow down and look around cautiously. I don't see anyone, although I guess it is pretty late. I speed up, walking as fast as I could without sprinting through the darkness. I look to my right because I heard something, but when I do that I bumped into something pretty hard with my head. I hold the spot that got hit and back up. Shit that hurt. As I was backing up I bumped into something not so hard. Oops. I try running forward, but I get stopped.

"What are you doing out here so late, Naruto?" An all to familiar and unwelcoming voice says sending chills down my spine.

"Uh, I ... I was just going to the store to uh ... pick up some stuff for my mom. W-what are you doing?" I try to smile as I turn around to see Gaara's killer glare staring right at me.

"That's none of your business." Gaara's glare hardens making me shrink back and advert eye contact. I have yet to meet someone who's glare is scarier than Gaara's. All I need to do is stay calm and not do anything to get him angry.

"S-sorry, I just ... I shouldn't of asked. It's none of my business anyway."

"You're right about something, it is none of your business." This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, Gaara is getting angry. He is one of the easiest people to piss off. All you have to do is breath wrong and he gets pissed. He is normally only mean to me, or if I'm around. Things that I can't do anywhere around him to ensure my safety; at least for a little while anyway is:

Gaara's Rule 1: Don't talk to him much.

Gaara's Rule 2: Don't look at him for any longer than three seconds.

Gaara's Rule 3: And don't ever piss him off, he is really dangerous and unpredictable whenever he is pissed. Oh, and you don't want to get into a fight with him wither, you are almost guaranteed to lose ... miserably.

"I'm sorry." I say quietly as I fidget with my hands and look away.

It's been like this for ten years. When I was six I started giving up on making everyone like me. That's also when I stated getting bullied pretty badly in school, the streets, the stores, pretty much anywhere besides my own home. I would skip school near the end of first grade quite frequently, until Iruka started to get worried and he started coming to my house to see where I was. It was a good thing he did too, I was a mess. I was either always sitting in my room crying or staring at the wall blankly. I had no energy because I would never eat, and the food I had in my house was either gone or spoiled.

In the second grade Iruka was made my homeroom teacher. He never gave me any form of special treatment, but I could tell that he liked me the best out of everyone else so that made me really happy.

In the third grade I started to be my normal self again. What really surprised me is that I even made a friend. We're still best of friends to this day too. His name is Kiba Inuzuka. He is one of the very few people that I feel like I can be myself around.

In fourth grade Shikamaru moved here to Konoha, Kiba and I quickly claimed him as one of us before anyone else could try. Both Kiba and myself found him to be really strange, but he never judged us about what we did or said. If we were doing something stupid, he would always say 'This is such a drag' or 'You're so troublesome' but he would always some with us no matter what we did.

In fifth grade it all started going downhill. Kiba and Shikamaru both started to get bullied for hanging out with me. Even though they didn't care, I did. I knew how it felt to get bullied, so I tried to push them away from me. I went as far as to tell them that I hated them both but that failed because as soon as I said I hated them I started to choke up. At the end of saying that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Needless to say, they didn't believe me one bit. Apparently they also knew what I was attempting to do the whole time, well, Shikamaru did anyway.

In sixth grade I started to get bullied really badly again. I was a total wreck. Kiba and Shikamaru were worried about me so they ended up telling Iruka. Last time the bullying only got my when I was outside of my house, but this time I eve got bullied at my house. They would go as far as to come to my house just to beat me up. It was weird but for some reason I started to like the pain of getting beaten up. It reminded me that I was still here and alive. Iruka ended up coming to my house after school everyday and talked to me. He would stay for dinner and play games too. He would even stay until I fell asleep sometimes too.

In seventh grade I heard about self harm. I wasn't sure what it was but I had a good idea but just to make sure I was right, I went to Shikamaru and asked him about it. He was a little surprised but he told me about it. I don't know why people would want to hurt themselves to feel relief, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

In eighth grade someone was dared to tell me that they loved me. She did the dare and she also asked me out. I was definitely suspicious but I went ahead and said that I would go on a date with her. When we went out into the town together she was looking around like she was expecting something to happen. Well something did happen, I got jumped by her friends and as I was getting beaten up she just stood there laughing. You could say I learned my lesson.

In ninth grade when we were all freshmen in high school, I saw an openly gay couple for the first time. I didn't really know what to think to be honest. I went to Iruka and asked what it was like to be gay. You could say that he was a little surprised, but that would have been an understatement. When I went to ask him, I hadn't thought of him as gay but I was just wondering if he knew what it was like. Well, that day I found out that my favorite teacher was gay.

In tenth grade I got adopted. I was so happy that I would finally have a family, but then they gave me their rules for what I can and cannot do in their house. At first I was stressed and I didn't really know how to react to any of it. When I found out that I couldn't have Kiba up I was pretty sad. I asked Kiba what his family did to my parents. HE didn't know so he asked his parents but they also didn't know. One day I broke one of my parents rules and my dad beat me giving me four bruises. He told me that it was a warning for if I broke any more rules. I couldn't help it, I ended up breaking almost all of the rules at least once. The punishments got worse each time.

In eleventh grade, my current grade, nothing has really happened yet. I only got beat up five times for the whole four days that school has been in, so I guess that's an improvement. Kiba and Shikamaru aren't in my homeroom so I never get to put my guard down, not even for a second. Especially if people talk to me, like my current situation.

"I'm going t-to uh ... go now, I'll see you in school." I turn to leave but of course he had to go grab my shoulder and turn me around.

"What did you say to me?" I could hear a slight hint of venom in his voice.

"I-I'll see you in s-school-" My voice quivered and I looked down to the ground.

"Are you giving me an order?"

"N-no! That's not it! I-I-I just ... meant to say ... uh ... bye." I write a mental note for another one of Gaara's rules.

Gaara's Rule 4: Don't give him orders.

"I better not see you in school, Uzumaki. If I do then you-"

"Drop it Gaara." We both look back over our shoulders seeing nothing but a shadow. The one who said this stepped a little closer and that's when I saw his eyes. It's like they pierced right through me. Who is this? I've never seen Gaara hang out with him before. Is he new? His voice seemed so calm and smooth. It almost had a soothing affect on me, almost. "He's not worth our time." I don't know if I should be offended or grateful to this stranger.

Gaara huffs letting go of my shoulder and walking to his ... friend? I think they're friends anyway. I see the other guy glare over at me before leaving with Gaara. Who the hell shit in his cornflakes? I straighten out my shirt heaving a immense sigh. I then continue to the store grabbing a couple things. When I get to the checkout I look up at the clock behind the cashier and I almost had a mini heart attack. My parents told me to be back by 10:30, it's currently 10:25. It takes 10 minutes to get back if I'm lucky. Just my luck.

I grab the bag off the counter and sprint out the door and down the street to get to my house. On my way I saw Gaara's red hair on the opposite side of the road, thankfully. He was alone though, where was the other one? All of a sudden I bump into someone, again. I take a step back and look up. Those eyes. They look like the ones from just a little while ago but they were different somehow. More relaxed? Slightly more feminine I guess. Even though they looked calm, they still had the same piercing stare.

"I-I'm sorry!" I quickly continue my sprint to my house. I'm not going to make it. My house was just in view but I could see my dad through the window going to turn the porch light off. If he turns that off then I'm going to get in trouble. Just a few more seconds. Can't my legs move any faster?

Then it happens, the light goes dim one second before I hit the door. With incredible force if I may add. I try opening the door but it was already locked. I hear the door being unlocked and it opens. My dad was standing there arms folded across his cheat with a stern glare on his face.

"What do you want?" He had a threatening tone in his voice that made me want to just turn around and leave.

"I ... I just about made it, can I please come in?" My dad holds out a hand and looks down at the bag in my hand. I hand the bag to him and look back up at him.

"No. Go sleep with the dog." He shuts the door in my face with great force making me flinch. I clench my fists an turn around walking to the back yard where my dog slept.

"Hey Kyuubi." I walk up onto the back porch and sit next to him. He was a pretty big dog. No where near as big as Kiba's dog Akamaru though. But since he was so big he did a pretty good job at keeping me warm. He must have known what was going on because he sat up and licked my cheek laying back down closer to me. "Thanks Kyuubi." I lay down next to him and push against him. It was a lot colder than it usually was.

xxxxxx

"Get up you idiot, you're going to be late for school." I groggily open my eyes and look up at my mom standing in the doorway. I could hear a very faint rumble in Kyuubi's chest so I reach over and pet him telling him it's okay. If you couldn't tell, he kind of hates my parents. I stand up and dust myself off. "What? No thank you for waking me up?"

"Oh, sorry. Thank you for-"

"Yeah whatever you ungrateful little shit. Just get ready and get the hell out."

"Okay." I walk into my room getting changed. I had no time to take a shower so I had to skip it, which really sucked because I probably reeked of dog. I grab some milk and drink it putting my cup in the dishwasher and grabbing a slice of ham. I walk to the back door and put my shoes on opening the door. "I'm off." I step outside closing the door behind me. Kyuubi was sitting in front of the steps panting and wagging his tail. I throw him the slice of ham and he catches it. I quickly pet his head once more before running off to school.

xxxxxx

Homeroom is so boring. I sit there doing nothing , homework, more nothing, or reading. Everyone in my homeroom hates my guts which makes it even better. Whenever someone passes me they either hit me, kick me, pinch, punch, slap, flick, poke, tease, take my stuff, mess with my hair, pull my shirt, step on my feet, brake my pencils, tear my homework, and they like to tie my shoelaces to the desk if they can do it without my noticing. And since I sit in the front row, this stuff happens quite frequently. This is also a big factor in why I do nothing in homeroom. Also if you were wondering why don't the teachers do something about it, I'll tell you why. They don't like me that much either so they all tend to turn a blind eye on the situation. I ended up stopping trying to get their help when I noticed this.

"He actually came today, he's sure got guts." A boy's voice said walking through the door. Of course I came to school today, either way if I come or not I'll get beaten. My parents would beat me if I didn't go and you people would beat me if I did go.

"He smells like a dog too." The boy's friend commented making them both laugh. I'm sure you'd both smell like dog too if you were made to sleep right next to one for a night and then be deprived of a shower the next morning.

"I told you he's part animal." I glance over to them seeing Gaara glaring at me so I quickly return my gaze back to the front of the room.

"Let's go teach the little dog a lesson, shall we?" Gaara stands with his two other friends and walks over to me. Shit. As soon as there was no longer any light on my desk, which I was looking at, I look up at the three boys looking down at me. I really don't want to have to deal with this right now.

"It's not very nice the eavesdrop you know." You know what, I'm going to get beat up no matter what so hell with it. I'll probably regret it later but I don't care.

"It's kind of hard not to hear you three with your loud mouths."

"Are you seriously talking back to me?"

"Uh yeah, that's kind of how conversation works you know." I decided to push my luck even more and smirk slightly.

"You're pushing it Uzumaki."

"Oh I am? What exactly am I pushing right now? All I'm doing is talking to you."

"Will you just shut up?" I could see Gaara getting really pissed right now, maybe I really did push it to much. I should probably stop.

"Why should I?" What is wrong with me? Why didn't I just shut my mouth?

"That's it Uzumaki."

Gaara punches me, sending me flying out of my seat and I hit my head off the wall that was next to me. I sit up cringing at the pain that shot through my head. Just as I stood up, Gaara punches me again. After a couple of minutes of getting beaten like a punching bag, I see a walk into the classroom and over to us. He puts a firm hand onto Gaara's shoulder making him and the other two stop what they were doing.

"I think you should stop." I carefully sit up and open my eyes the rest of the way and look up at the man. He had white spiky hair, a band over his left eye, and a mask covering everything else but his other eye. "Go on down to the principle's office and explain what you were doing." Gaara glares at the man as he rips his shoulder away from his grip and leaving the room. I look back up to the man who was holding out a hand as he smiled down at me through his mask. I slowly take his hand and he pulls me up. "Are you alright?" I nod and he grabs a tissue from beside him handing it to me. "Your lip is bleeding." I take the tissue gratefully and wipe my lip, true enough, there actually was blood. I'm not surprised in the slightest though. "I'm Mr. Hatake, but you can call me Kakashi. You don't have me for any of your classes yet, do you Naruto?" I stop wiping away the blood and stare up at Kakashi shocked.

"How do you know my name?"

"I was a friend of your parent, well, your real parents. They asked me to keep an eye out for you and help you if you were ever in trouble."

"You knew my parents?" Kakashi put an arm around my shoulder and took me out of the room.

"I'll tell you about them on our way down to the principle's office."

"My parents can't know that I got into a fight." I start to panic.

"It'll be okay Naruto. You aren't to blame for this fight."

"You don't understand, they'll-" I stop and think about what I was just about to say. I see Kakashi frown at me from the corner of my eye.

"They'll what?"

"Nothing, they should understand." I look up smiling to him. I need a subject change before he catches onto anything. "Oh, about my parents. What were they like?"

"They were actually really great people." Kakashi smiled turning his head back to in front of us. "Everyone in the whole town loved them, well, most of the town anyway. Minato; your father, was actually the principle here long ago. Also meaning he was my principle, boy do I give him props for never giving up on me." I look up to him.

"What do you mean? Were you mean or something?"

Kakashi chuckled slightly. "Mean is an understatement. I guess you could of called me a little hellion to say the very least. Even with me being the way I was, he never gave up on me no matter what I did. He told me that if he gave up on me, then he wouldn't feel fit to be a father. One would normally think that I would have stopped with my little rebellious streak after that, but if you thought that, you were dead wrong. I made it, oh, probably fifty times worse on him. I got into trouble more often, meaning I had to go down to his office a lot. You could say your father and I had a pretty strong bond. He even invited me over to his house to dinner every know and then. I rejected him multiple times, but I eventually said okay since he was starting to get on my nerves. That's when I got to meet your mother, Kushina. She was a lovely lady, she could be extremely frightening at times though." Kakashi chuckles a little bit. I smile and drop my head to the floor. They sound so awesome.

"What did you do to make her so irritated?"

"Many, many things. If I did anything bad around her then she would straighten me out. There was this one time that I got into a fight with my, at the time, acquaintance. Kushina and Minato just happened to be walking by. She separated us and started to berate us, in the end she made us make up. Our punishment was to talk down the street holding each other's hand. She had something that most people now-a-days couldn't ever dream of having."

"What could that be?"

"Easy, a loving heart." A loving heart? I smile.

"I think I do."

"Do what?"

"Have a loving heart." I put my fist up to my chest over my heart and grin from ear to ear. Kakashi smiles reaching a hand up and messing up my hair.

"That you do. Don't ever let that part of you die, it proves that your parents will live on in you." Kakashi stops. "Oh, that reminds me. Wait here." He goes into a room and comes out with a book a minutes later. He hand me the book and I hesitantly take it.

"What is it?" I flip it over in my hands to look at the back.

"A present. Your parents told me to give it to you on your sixteenth birthday, but, as you can see, I kind of forgot. Look at it when you get home."

"But I want to look at it now." I whine and Kakashi laughs lightly shoving me forward continuing to walk to our destination.

"You can live until you get home."

"Fine." I huff and hold it close to my chest, a smile creeping up on my lips. I haven't been this happy in a long time. "Thanks for this Kakashi."

"It's my pleasure." We stop in front of the principle's office.

"Can you at least tell my what it is before I go?" I eagerly turn to him in hopes that he would actually tell me. He pondered it for a minutes as if he was actually thinking about telling me, but he just smiled.

"Not a chance." He pats my back as I give him a disgruntled look. "Go on and get in there." I frown and take a deep breath.

"If you say so." I walk through the doors.

"I'll see you around Naruto." I turn around to see Kakashi leaving, did I seriously just make a new friend? My smile grew as I walk into Tsunade's office. She looks up from Gaara with a very peeved glare. I immediately hide my smile and hold my present closer.

"Gaara, you may leave. Go wait in the waiting room for someone to come get you." My heart stops. If someone is coming to get him, does that mean she's going to call my parents? I start to feel light headed as Gaara passes me with a glare. "Naruto, you don't look to well, you just got really pale. Take a seat and relax." I grab the chair and sit myself in it nervously. I take a series of deep breaths until I felt better. "Naruto, this isn't your first time here with me, why are you almost having an heart attack now?"

"I just ... don't want my parents to know."

"Naruto." Tsunade started with a disheartening sigh as she leans back in her chair. "You know that I have to call them."

"I know, but can't you just make an exception ... just this once?" I know she has to call. I'm just being wishful.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I can't." I anxiously mess with my hands and stare down at the book. "Naruto, tell me what happened."

"Gaara and his friends were picking on me. They then came over to me and I might have possibly made him mad by talking back to him. Then he punched me and it just carried on from there."

"Okay, so you're partially to blame." I lower my gaze to the floor. "I'm going to call her now." She picks up the phone and dials my home phone number. It rings for a little while, and then it stops and I could hear a muffled 'hello?' "Hello, Mrs. Haruka, this is your sons principle. He has gotten into a fight this morning and I'm afraid that someone is going to have to come pick him up. Okay. Thank you. Sorry for the trouble. Goodbye." She hangs up leaving a thick air in the room. "She's coming to get you."

"Okay." I say quietly as I pull my present from my chest. "Can I open this?"

She looks over to me. "It's yours, isn't it?" I nod. "Then you don't need my permission ." She smiles at me and goes back to her work. I carefully rip off the paper and shove it into the garbage can. A book. I slowly open the book and look at the inside cover. Something was written on it.

To Naruto,  
From your mother and father.

I smile and flip the page gently and see lots of pictures and words. It's a photo album. I look over the pictures with a smile creeping onto my face. There was a some written words next to one of the pictures.

This is Jiraiya, he was a very nice man, but at  
times he could be a giant perv. But no matter how  
pervy he may be, you can always rely on him. He  
was your father's teacher too. Jiraiya and your father  
were very close, you could practically call him part  
of the family. That would make him your uncle, Naruto.  
I know that if you ever meet one day that you two will  
get along just fine.

My mother's handwriting was beautiful. She also seemed like a really sweet person, which made me want to meet her even more than I already wanted to. As for this so called Jiraiya character, I'm not to sure about him. He looks creepy, but both of my parents trusted him so he couldn't be to bad. He did teach my father after all. I flip the page and see Kakashi. He was with a man with blond hair, and another person around his age that had black hair.

The man with white hair is Kakashi, I suspect  
by know you have met him since you have this.  
He was such a troublemaker, but your father and  
I loved him just like he was out own child. I  
wonder how he will turn out in the long run. I  
hope he's an at least somewhat responsible adult  
now. You are very lucky to have someone like him,  
Naruto, keep that in mind. Oh, and if you're curious  
to who that little boy with the black hair is, he's Obito.  
Kakashi and him fought constantly. In the end they  
were the best of friends.

Who is the man with the blond hair? I want to know. I glance over the pictures again and see one where Kakashi and Obito were wrestling, the blond man was laughing nervously, a red haired women looked like she was yelling at the two. I smile warmly and turn the page, only to be interrupted by someone opening the door behind me.

"Hello Mrs. Haruka, thank you for coming." Tsunade says as she looks up from her work in front of her.

"I am terribly sorry for Naruto's behavior, I will make sure that this never happens again." My mom grabs my wrist. I quickly close the book and tumble out the door. I get into the front seat of the car and nervously stare out of the window. "Seatbelt, Naruto." Her voice was stern. I hurriedly put on the seatbelt and hugged my book. When we got to the house we went inside without speaking a word. I take my shoes off and start to pace to go back to my room, but of course my mom had to stop me.

"I have done so much for you, Naruto! I have only asked that you follow our rules, and this is what you repay me with?!" She smacks my cheek forcing me into the wall. "What the hell is this stupid thing you have been holding all the way home?" She tries to take it, but I had an iron grip on it. "Let it go Naruto!" I normally would obey, but not with this.

"No!" She grabbed the closest thing to her which just happened to be an umbrella and she started to hit me with it.

"Give it to me this instant!"

"Mom, wait! Please stop!" I let go of the book with one hand to grab the umbrella. Well, that was clearly the worst mistake I could have ever made. She immediately grabbed the book and opened it. I quickly try and grab it, but she smacks me once again.

"What the hell is this?"

"A present."

"You know that you aren't supposed to take presents unless it's your birthday! Who gave this to you?"

"It was for my birthday though, Kaka-" I stop, remembering rule number 18. My parents, for some odd reason, don't like the Hatakes.

"Who?"

"Kakatsu." She glares at me suspiciously then directs her glare back to the book.

"I have decided a fitting punishment for getting into that fright today." I don't like where this is going, but I'm ready. I can handle any form of punishment. She walks into the living room and I follow her, slightly confused. When I saw that she was standing close to the fireplace, my eyes shoot wide open. What the hell is she planning? "This punishment is for getting into a fight, and also taking a present when it isn't your birthday." She holds up the book, and throws it into the blazing inferno. Instantly getting engulfed by the hungry flames. It all seemed to go into slow motion as the photo album my parents gave to me was sent to it's doom. I felt the warm tears stream down my cheeks.

"NO!" I lung myself forward to grab it, but my mom grabs me holding me back. "No, no, no! Let me go!" The tears were steadily steaming down my face now. How could she do this!? She finally lets me go and I lung for the book pulling it out of the fire. I drop it as soon as I pull it out because it burnt my hands. There was still a fire on it so I quickly put it out. I wipe away the tears and look at the book. The edges were all charred. The cover took the most damage. I grab it once more when I deemed it cool enough, and hugged it to my chest hurrying back to my room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like it. If you want to leave comments it would be much appreciated. And I forgot to say in the first chapter that there is self harm in this fanfiction, so if you don't like that kind of thing then sorry.

**Chapter 2: The Kiss**

                My alarm goes off making me jump slightly. I rub my eyes and slam my hand down on it a couple times before it stops making the annoying sound. I rub my eyes throwing my covers off and swinging my legs over the side of my bed. I stand up and drag myself over to my door and into the bathroom down the hall to take a shower. When I finished, I got out and wrapped a towel around my waist. I go back to my room and quickly get changed.

                I wasn't in the best of moods today so I didn't feel like wearing jeans, so instead I put on some of my baggy sweat pants and a t-shirt.

                I go to grab my bag, but then I remember that I never got it from my locker the other day. I leave my room with a sigh and go down into the kitchen. I grab a bowl of cereal and quickly eat it before I get a piece of ham for Kurama. I slip my shoes on and go to the backdoor grabbing the handle.

                "I'm leaving." I say in a mumble, but it was loud enough that my mom heard it. I then turn the handle stepping out the door. Kurama lifts his head and perks his ears to see who it was. When he saw it was me his tail started to lazily wag. He forced himself up stretching and yawning before trotting over to me. "Hey boy, sleep well?" I hand him the ham and scratch his back. "I'll take you for a walk tonight, alright?" Kurama finished the ham and barked his approval. I smile and walk down the steps. "See you tonight."

XXXXX

                I didn't see Shikamaru walking in the halls this morning like I usually did. I wonder if he slept in, it wouldn't surprise me if he did. I take out a pencil and my notebook and start to draw. Draw what? I don't really know. I look up after a little while noticing that Gaara wasn't here either. I shrug it off considering it my lucky day and continued to draw. When I dropped my eyes back down to my notebook, I noticed that I was drawing those eyes that I saw two days ago.

                "Class, we have a new student today." The teacher says loudly to get everyone's attention, I don't bother looking up though. "Please introduce yourself."

                "Sasuke Uchiha." I stop drawing and my eyes shoot wide open. Slowly I look up to this so called Sasuke boy. His voice was so ... familiar.

               He wore black jeans that were faded slightly in the front turning them gray and a chain on his belt loops that hung law past his hip. He also had on black combat boots. A Black shirt with some white and gray words on it that I couldn't read, and he had black wrist bands on that covered from his elbow to his hand. He also wore a that necklace looked like a ping-pong paddle. Overall, there was a lot of black on that boy.

                My eyes make it up to his own, and that's when everything felt like the world was in slow motion. Sasuke looked over to me as soon as I looked at his face. My heart ached for some reason. The look in his eyes was the same as my own. What could have caused him so much pain that he would put that hidden pain in his eyes. Those eyes didn't look like that the last time I saw them. This couldn't possibly be the same person, could it? Wait. If it was the same person, he was hanging out with Gaara. Why?

                Sasuke looked away from me and takes a seat near the back. Nearly all of the girls were fawning all over him. Even I have to admit, he was pretty attractive. He kind of looks good in all of that black too.

                After a while the bell rings making me lose my thoughts. I close my notebook setting it in the pile of others on my desk and pick them up, leaving for class.

XXXXX

                The first half of the day was horrible. Whenever we had to speak out loud to either give an answer, or to read something aloud. Everyone always picked on me to do it. When I read out loud I stutter from all the nerves that build up within me and everyone laughs, even the teacher laughs. But now I'm at lunch with my two best friends, so none of the earlier things matter anymore.

                "I thought you weren't coming to school today, Shikamaru." I say as I sit next to them forming a triangle.

                "My alarm didn't go off this morning, so my mom ended up having to wake me up." Shikamaru lays back in the grass closing his eyes.

                "Hey, Naruto. I heard you got some new guy in your homeroom." Kiba says making my head snap over to him.

                "Yeah, I think I've ran into him once before too."

                "Really? What's he like?"

                "I don't know. He seemed kind of mean when I first met him, he was also hanging out with Gaara that day. Then just this morning he seemed really sad. It didn't seem like he had a mean bone in his body."

                "People change, maybe something happened to him earlier. But the most important question," He pauses for a dramatic effect. "Is he cute?" I should have been expecting this question. I just roll my eyes at him. "Oh come on Naruto, you need someone who will make you happy."

                "Kiba, how many times do I have to tell you that I am perfectly happy now. Anyway, he doesn't look like the type of guy to date people. Especially another guy. I've also told you that I don't even know if I like guys like that. I told you I'm still confused."

                "I could help you with that confusion." Kiba smiles making me furrow my brows. I'm getting a bad feeling about this.

                "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what do you mean?"

                "You could kiss me to see if you are gay."

                "You're just doing this to get in his pants." Shikamaru sighs.

                "I am not! Did I say anything about sex Shikamaru? No. I didn't. I just offered to let him kiss me."

                "Wouldn't that be a little awkward? Especially afterward?" I start to mess with my shoe laces getting slightly nervous. Kissing my best friend?

               "Only if you make it that way." I look up at him, then to my shoe laces again thinking about his offer. This would be so awkward, but I am sick of not knowing.

                "Okay."

                "You'll do it?"

                "Yeah, but I have to bring Kurama. I promised him a walk."

                "That's fine. You can come over to my house after school today."

                "A-alright."

                "Look, don't be so nervous Naruto. You'll be fine, I promise." Kiba smiles as the bell rings so was all get up and go to out next class.

XXXXX

                I hate sitting in the front of the class. I feel like everyone is watching me. I have Kiba in this class, although he sits in the complete opposite side of the room. Guess who else is in my class, you guessed it, Sasuke. He sits all the way in the back too. Two seats away from Kiba. For some reason, I feel like Sasuke is staring at me most of the time, including right now, but I don't dare look back just in case he actually was looking. Then we would make awkward eye contact and I'd be even more uneasy than I already am right now.

                The teacher walks in a few minutes after the bell rings, which is weird since Asuma is never late. I look up from my desk to see none other than Kakashi. I arch a brow. What is going on? Where is Asuma?

                "Good morning class." Kakashi cheerfully said as he walks to his desk. When he stopped he looked to me and smiled through his mask. What kind of teacher always wears a mask to school anyway? Kind of made me curious to what his face actually looked like. "I am Kakashi, I'm going to be filling in for Asuma."

                "Where is Asuma?" Ino blurted out.

               "He had somewhere he had to go, but that aside, let's get started shall we?" Kakashi as a replacement teacher might not be to bad. "This is your history class, and Asuma told me that he was just about to assign you all a project." It's like you could hear the eye rolls coming from the class.

                "Can we have partners?" Sakura asked in her usual annoyingly so called 'innocent' voice.

                "Yes, b-"

                "Oh good! In that case I pick Sas-"

                "Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on Sakura." Sakura looks back at Kakashi with an eyebrow raised. "I'm going to pick your partners." Her smile transformed into a frown, as well for everyone else's smiles in the class. My heart beat quickened. I hate when teachers do this. I get so nervous that I'm going to get paired up with someone that hates me, so practically the whole damn school.

                "But, why?" Ino pouted.

                "Because I want it to be fair, that's why. I'm going to be putting people together that I think will work well together."

                "But you don't even know us."

                "That's where you're wrong Tenten." Tenten was surprised when Kakashi said her name. "I actually know you all pretty well, granted I do know some better than others."

                "So who do you know the best?" Sakura asked not really curious, she just wanted to distract Kakashi and waste our time.

                "That doesn't matter, now does it?" Sakura huffs crossing her arms. "Okay, now to get on with class. The first pairing is Shino and Kiba." Well it looks like I'm screwed right off the bat. "Ino and Tenten, Choji and Sai, Sakura and Neji." There is still Hinata, she was always nice to me whenever we talked. Although we didn't talk very much, but still. "Hinata aaaand ..." Kakashi looked around the room stopping on the raven haired boy. "Naruto." I could hear the people around Hinata say something to her. Something about being sorry for her. "There you have it, go to your assigned partner and I'll be around with the requirement paper."

                "Uhm ... Kakashi sensei, you didn't give Sasuke a group." Sakura says sitting herself next to Neji.

                "I know this." I glanced back to Sasuke, he was glaring at Kakashi.

                "He can join us."

                "No, he will be quite fine. He has Gaara after all." I look behind me to see Hinata walking over to me. She offers a warm smile as she slides a desk over next to me.

                "Sorry about you getting partnered with me." I glance at her once more then down to my hands on the desk.

                "D-don't be silly, Naruto. I-I actually kind of wanted to be your partner." I raise my head with a confused expression clear on my face, then back down.

                "You don't have to try and make me feel better by lying."

                "I'm n-not lying Naruto, I-I wanted to talk to you for a long time now." Does that mean she wants to be my friend? My eyes widen a little at the thought and she slightly blushes.

                "So you-"

                "Here you go you two." I was interrupted by Kakashi handing us a paper.

                "Thanks." Hinata and I both say simultaneously. I smile slightly and look down at the paper frowning a bit.

                "Hinata."

                "Y-yes?"

                "If you become my friend, won't everyone hate you too?"

                Hinata looks over at me with a sad expression. "Naruto, no one will care."

                "You don't know that."

                "Nothing will change for you i-if no one steps up to help."

                I look up to her a bit surprised. I couldn't help but smile my biggest smile at her making her blush like crazy. "Thank you, Hinata." I look back down to the paper. "Let's see what we have to get done." I scan the requirements and sigh deeply. "What do we have to do a presentation on?"

                "S-since it doesn't say that we have to do it on a specific topic, w-we could ... maybe do it on Napoleon. I-If you want to."

                "Sounds good." I smile and lean back in my chair. I see Hinata glancing back for the third time this class . "Uhm ... Hinata?"

                "Y-yes?"

                "Why do you ... uh ... keep looking back?"

                "O-oh, well every time that I look back, Sasuke is looking over here." My eyes widen. So he was looking over here.

                "Why?" I didn't dare look back since Sasuke could still be looking over here.

               "I'm not sure, but he is intently staring at you. I think that he has something to say to you." I moved my eyes back to look at him, but I moved my eyes back to Hinata before I could get a look at him.

                "Why do you think he wants to talk to _me?_ "

                "His gaze is directed right at you, you should go talk to him after class."

                "Wha-, n-no way!" My whisper came out a little louder than I intended, but I didn't worry about it.

                "O-okay, never mind. I-I don't want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable, b-but what I said about Sasuke wasn't a lie."

                "I know." I smile slightly. I turn my head glancing back over my shoulder. There he was, sitting there, head resting in his hand, looking at me with a far off look in his eyes. As soon as I looked back, Sasuke decided to look away. So he was looking at me.

XXXXX

                I walk through the back door to my house and take off my shoes. "Mom?"

                "What?" She sounds angry, but then again I guess she always does. I walk into the living room where she was sitting on the couch reading.

                "Can I go to a friend's house to get some help?"

                "What friend and what do you need help with?" She looks up from her book to glare at me.

                "Shikamaru, he's gonna help me with my math." She studies me to see if I was lying. After a couple of years you tend to get pretty good at something, so now-a-days she can almost never tell if I'm lying. If it's not anything major that is. She rolls her eyes at me and drops her glare back down to her book.

                "Whatever, just don't take too long." I don't know if I actually wanted her to say I could go now or not.

                "Thanks." I quickly leave her and put my shoes back on and leave before she could change her mind. Kurama never needed a leash when I took him on walks. He never went far from me. As soon as I left the house he started following me. "We're going to see someone today Kurama." Kurama looked up wagging his tail. "Akamaru and Kiba, fun right?" He barked a couple times and jumped happily. He hasn't seen Akamaru in forever so of course he'd be happy. I shove my hands in my pockets smiling, and my backpack hung on my shoulder. When we got into the part of town with a lot of people I cast my gaze to the sidewalk so I didn't meet anyone's harsh glares.

                I don't know why but for some reason I had the sudden urge to look up, so of course I do. There, walking towards me from some distance away, was Sasuke. He had that same sad look in his eyes that he had in school today. Maybe I should say hi to him or something. I confidently smile, ready to say his name to get his attention, but someone opened a door from inside of the store I was next to and the door hit me. I quickly stumble backwards almost tripping on my dog.

                "Sorry!" I turn to face them giving the person an apologetic look then backing up right into a cart making some things fall. "Sorry!" I step to the side to pick up the items but I hit someone else. "I'm really sorry!" I look at them and turn back around starting to run. I ran right into Sasuke. I stood there an inch from his face, for a lot longer than I probably should have. He glared at me with the worst glare I've ever seen. I quickly back up and fumble with my hem of my shirt.

                You remember when I said I have yet to meet anyone who has a scarier glare than Gaara's? Yeah, well I think I just found one that tops his ten fold."S-sorry, I-I didn't ... uh ... see-"

                "Shut up and watch where you're walking dumbass." My eyes widened as he pushed past me into the chaos that I have created. Kurama was growling at him the whole time. He hates me. He really hates me. I drop my head to the ground and see Kurama growling still.

                "Kurama, come on ... let's go." I say in such a quiet voice I'm surprised that he heard me. I trudge up to Kiba's door and knock. I quickly shake my thoughts away as Kiba opens the door.

                "Naruto." He looks down and smiles. "Kurama too, come on in." He steps aside as we step in. He closes the door behind us and brings me to his room. Kurama ran away to find Akamaru the moment we stepped in the door. I couldn't help it but my heart was beating really fast and I felt extremely nervous.   I've never kissed anyone. I never did anything even close to a kiss before. What do I do? What is Kiba thinking? Is he going to kiss me, or am I going to have to kiss him? Apparently it showed on my face that I was thinking too much because I heard some laughter.

                "Naruto, calm down." Kiba chuckles and takes my backpack setting it in a corner. Kiba then sits on his bed and pats the empty space next to him. "Come sit." I swallow my nerves and take the spot next to Kiba. "Calmed down?"

                "I think so, yeah." Kiba puts a hand on my chest and smirks.

                "You're still nervous." I blush slightly and look to the ground.

                "So I'm nervous, anyone would be if they were like me." I look at Kiba who was smiling. "Aren't you?" Kiba takes my hand and puts it to his chest. I could feel his heart, it was beating just like mine. I look up from my hand to him. "If you're so nervous then how are you so calm?" He let's go of my hand and I rest it on my lap.

                "I'm not sure, but it takes a lot of skill. Something you don't have." Kiba joked making me roll my eyes and smile. "So, do you want to start? I figure your parents don't know you're here and that they want you back as soon as possible." I sigh and look at the ground.

                "Yeah."

                "Then if you don't mind." Kiba gently turned my face to his so our eyes met. "May I?" I take a moment before slowly nodding. He starts to lean in closing his eyes. Just when I though that my nerves were almost gone, they came back ten times worse. I close my eyes just as our lips connected. He started to kiss me, so I did my best to kiss back. He pushed into me slightly, opening his mouth so I do the same. He then pushes his tongue into my mouth, which I must say, surprised me a little bit.

                I felt something click in me as Kiba pushed me back against his bed. Dominance. I pull away for a minute and push Kiba off from hovering over top of me. He lands on his back next to me with widened eyes. I quickly straddle him and look down at him, again connecting our lips. I push my tongue into his mouth this time. He puts his hands around my neck pulling me closer.

                I start to pull at Kiba's shirt, and when he didn't object, I slid it off of it's owner throwing it behind us. Kiba quickly slides my shirt off as well. I trail my hands down his stomach, grabbing onto his belt loop and pulling a little. He grabbed my hand causing me to snap open my eyes. I realize what I was trying to do so I quickly jump off of him blushing like crazy.

                "S-sorry, I guess I just ... uh ... I uh ... got a little ... uhm ... caught up in the moment." Kiba sits up grabbing his shirt and sliding it on.

                "It's fine, you weren't the only one." Kiba chuckles. "But you're definitely gay." He pauses handing me my shirt and I slid it on. "And I think that I could help you get a boyfriend." I look up at him with a glare.

                "Really Kiba."

                "How about the Uchiha?" He completely ignores my annoyance and continues with his own thoughts. When I realize when he said my eyes bug out of my head for a second making me shiver at the thought.

                "What's wrong?"

                "If I even tried to date him he would probably kill me, bury my body ten feet deep in his backyard, and I wouldn't be found until 200 years later. Then his great-great-great-great grandkids will say 'This is that guy that our great-great-great-great grandpa killed for trying to date him.' " I look down to Kiba to see a very dumbfounded look on his face.

                "What are you talking about, Naruto?"

                "Well ... uh ... I don't think he likes me very much."

                "Why?"

                "On the way here, I kind of bumped into him."

                "And?"

                "Well, he called me a dumbass, and he looked like he wanted to kill me. Granted I did run into him."

                "Is that where you got your little scenario from?"

                "Indeed."

                "Okay, so not the Uchiha. Got it."

                "I should probably go though, you know, before my mom actually does kill me for real." Kiba stands up nodding. He grabs my backpack and hands it to me. Kurama and Akamaru come running to us and we go to the front door. He smiles and opens the door for us.

                "I'll see you in school tomorrow." Kiba says as we pass him.

                "See you in school." I walk to the sidewalk with Kurama and I hear Kiba whistle.

                "Nice butt, Naruto!" Kiba's little outburst caused me to shake my head and smile like an idiot.


	3. chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Rumor Has It**

                Being gay isn't as hard as I thought it would be, not that I thought it would be any different then before. The only thing that sucks is that it is even harder to find people to date, and it just adds to the list of things I can't tell my parents.

                I sit down beside my friends in the grass for lunch. "So how'd it go?" Shikamaru asked looking like he had just woken up. Well, he probably did. When both Kiba and I had a confused look on our face, Shikamaru sighed. "The kiss."

                "Oh! I don't know, good I guess." I say looking to Kiba for his thoughts on the matter.

                "He was a pretty good kisser for that being his first kiss." Kiba laughed making me slightly blush. "But he is gay hands down."

                "Is there anyone you have your eye on?"

                "Not really." I look to the ground messing with my shoe laces.

                "Don't lie Naruto." Kiba pushed me making me tumble over, Kiba looks to Shikamaru to tell him something. "He has a crush on the new kid."

                "The Uchiha?"

                "The one and only."

                "I do not! I just think he's attractive is all, but really, who doesn't. Plus, I'm pretty sure that he would kill me if he got the chance."

                "You'll never know if you don't try." Shikamaru leans back on his arms.

                "He's straight, I'm not going to try doing anything."

                "What are you guys talking about?" My head snaps over to see Sakura and Ino walk up to us smirking. My eyes widen and I look away. What did they hear?

                "Nothing interesting." Kiba says leaning back on his arms as well.

                "Really, because I thought I heard you guys talking about Sasuke." Sakura steps closer crossing his arms.

                "Even if we were, it's none of your business." Shikamaru adds getting a little angry with the girls. They always picked on me whenever they can.

                "If it has to do with Sasuke, then it is our business." Ino glared.

                "Why do you feel like you have to be part of everyone's conversation?" Kiba growled, clearly agitated.

                "Because we deserve to be part of the conversations."

                "Don't make me laugh."

                "Who was it that was gay?" My eyes widen, but luckily I was looking down at my shoes so they couldn't see my shock.

                "Why do you care?" Kiba snaps making Sakura and Ino smirk.

                "No reason, but by the looks of it I'd say it was you, Naruto." I stiffen when Sakura puts a hand on my shoulder. "That reaction just proves my theory."

                "His reaction doesn't prove anything." Kiba stands up pushing Sakura away from me.

                "How doesn't it?"

                "You guys always pick on him, it's only natural that he would be nervous around all of you." Shikamaru stands in between me and them, also holding Kiba back from punching either one of them and getting into a lot of trouble. "So if you could leave, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks." Shikamaru was holding onto my shoulder in attempt to calm me down.

                "Okay, we'll leave. We'll see you around boys." Ino smirked and the two walked off. When they weren't in view any longer, Kiba and Shikamaru sit back down next to me.

                "You okay, Naruto?" Kiba asked with a concerned tone.

               "They found out, they already found out." I rub the back of my neck imagining the many scenarios that could, and probably will, happen.

                "They don't know for sure." Kiba put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me.

                "Even if they do know, we're here for you." Shikamaru sits back down and leans back on his hands again.

                "That's right," Kiba lets go of me smiling. "You have Iruka too!" I faintly smile. They're right, it won't be too bad as long as I have them. I also have Kakashi. He told me that he would also look out for me.

                "Thanks guys. I should learn not to freak out so fast."

                "It's completely reasonable for you to freak out, considering what you've put up with for so long." Shikamaru put an arm behind his head and laid himself back the rest of the way.

                "He's right. You're one of the strongest people that I know, you know that?" Kiba laughs making me smile.

                The bell rings signaling for everyone to go back to class. All three of us get up and say goodbye to Shikamaru for now since his next class is on the other side of the school and we walk to our next class.

XXXXX

                I have English right after History, so that's where I'm going now. I'm kind of nervous though. I heard we were getting a new teacher for that class today since our old one quit. No one knows why he quit though. I wonder who it will be. Hopefully someone nice, but my chances with that happening aren't very likely.

                I walk up to the English room and go in. I cast my eyes downward as soon as I walk in so I couldn't see that glares directed at me. I quickly walk to my seat in the front ad set my stuff down before sitting. I do my normal routine before every class by pulling out my book and start reading.

                "Good afternoon class." A familiar voice sounded from the doorway. Is that ... I glance up to have my suspicions confirmed. Iruka. I couldn't help but smile brightly. Iruka looks over to me and smiles when he sees how happy I am.

                He takes role and walks to the front of the class smiling. "I am going to be your new English teacher, please call me Iruka. A lot of you probably had me when you were in grade school, but I don't know if you remember me." I was definitely going to have to talk to him after class. "Today we are going to be talking about short stories. " Iruka laughed after he heard the groan from the students. "To make it even better, you're all going to have to write a short story by the end of next week." Everyone made another groan, but I perk up.

               I love writing, it can be so fun to just be able to put your thoughts onto paper and make it into a story, a poem, some journal entry, anything you wish. There is so much you can do with writing. It can make you happy, sad, emotional, angry, hysterical, and what ever other emotion that is out there.

                My thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. I glance over and see Sasuke walk in and hand Iruka a slip of paper. He scanned it as Sasuke took the only seat left, next to me. I tense up and look down at my hands. Why does he have to sit next to me?

                "Sasuke, we are going to be making short stories. They will be due by the end of next week." Sasuke just nods. "Okay, you guys can write about anything you want," Iruka pauses and rethinks what he just said. "as long as it's school appropriate. The minimum amount of pages is five. You may have more, but no less. It also must be typed up and printed in Times New Roman font size twelve. I'll be around with a requirement sheet. I am giving you the rest of the class to start on it, so get started." Iruka grabbed the papers that he walked in with and handed them out to the class.

                What should I write about? Maybe I should write about something to do with fantasy. Action? Sci-Fi? ... Romance? Maybe I should do something about ninjas. I smile and open my notebook. Perfect.

XXXXX

                "I'm home!" I take my shoes off and quickly walk back to my room, throwing my backpack onto the floor near my bed. I fall backwards onto my bed sprawling myself to take up the whole bed. Being able to just lay here and not have to worry about homework or any drama is so peaceful. I turn roll over and turn on my CD player to listen to some music.

                I grab my notebook from my bag and continue writing my short story for English. After a long while of music and writing, I heard something slam loudly downstairs.

                "Naruto! Get your ass down here!" Why is mom pissed this time? I get up and walk out my door, warily walking down the stairs. She was standing in front of the door seething with anger and her arms crossed over her chest.

                "Yes?"   

                "Is it true?"

                "What?"

                "Don't play dumb with me boy! You're gay!?" My heart literally almost stopped. How? How does she already know?!

                "Uh ... "

                Her gaze turned into a very stern glare. "How could you, Naruto! We have a strict rule against guys in this house!"

                "I-I didn't mean for it to happen!"

                "To think that you have a crush on one of our worst enemies too!"

                "What?"

                "An Uchiha!" My eyes widen. I don't have a crush on Sasuke. Am I the only one who understands this?! "Your _friends_ Sakura and Ino told me. They are a Haruno and a Yamanaka!" Why did they do this? Are they not satisfied with ruining my life at school, they just had to bring it to my house? "Wait until our father hears about this."

                "No!" She can't tell him. He almost killed me last time I broke just one rule, I broke two this time!

                "Wait until I hear what?" My dad walks through the door from outside. He just had to come home right now. Of course, this is just my luck.

                "Naruto broke two rules." My dad's eyes narrowed dangerously and he snapped his head to me. I advert my eyes and chose to gaze down to the ground.

                "What rules?"

                "12 and 18. He's gay and he is friends with a Haruno and Yamanaka, he also like an Uchiha." My dad's eyes turned even more sinister when she said Uchiha. Why do they hate the Uchihas so much?

                Startling me out of my thoughts, my dad grabbed my collar pushing me to the wall. By doing that, he knocked all of the wind out of me.

                "What makes you think that that you can break these rules?" I tried to speak, but he moved his grip to my throat. I bring my hands up and grab his hand to try and pull it away, but he just tightened it. "You know the Uchihas are our worst enemy, but you think it's okay to like one?"

                "N-No! I-I don't l-like hi-m." I struggled getting my words out.

                "Don't you dare lie to me!" He picked me up by my throat and held me in the air. "You think it's okay for you to lie to us now too? That's three rules!" He drops me and kicks me in the side, making me hit my head off of the corner of a wall ad cut my cheek.

                "I-I'm not ... lying!" Why won't anyone listen to me!?

                He walks over to me and steps on my leg hard enough to break it making me let out a little scream. "If you're gay, you don't deserve to be here. Your whole existence is a sin!" He pulled me up to my feet and started to punch my like I was some punching bag. Every time he punched me I the stomach, it make me hit the corner of the wall with my back. All of this over breaking three rules. I'm trying not to lose my mental fight I'm having with myself. If I lose my will to keep fighting through this ... what will happen it me? I'm slowly getting consumed by my depression. Sometimes, I wish he would just kill me one of these times so I wouldn't have to feel obligated to do it myself.

                When he finished I couldn't move. I could feel blood running from my mouth and cheek where I had gotten cut. "Get out of my sight! You're sleeping with your stupid dog tonight." Both of my parents left the house getting into the car and disappeared.

                I stood up after ten minutes passed, wincing at the pain as I fumbled up the stairs to my room. I grab my bag and some clothes. I go into the bathroom and clean myself up before practically falling down the stairs and out the back door.

                Why do I put up with this? Why don't I tell someone? My friends don't even know about what I go through. I fall next to Kurama hugging my knees close to my chest. I can't help being gay, it wasn't my choice. I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. Why am I crying? I never cry over getting beat. What is going on?

                Kurama stands up licking my cheek. The show of affection made me stop holding my tears back. I turn and hug Kurama burying my face into his soft neck fur. He licked my ear in attempt to cheer me up, but it strangely didn't help very much.

                "I'm going to tell them. I'll tell Kiba, Shikamaru, Iruka, and maybe even Kakashi tomorrow." I let go of Kurama and look at his face. "I can do it." Kurama barks standing up wagging his tail and licks my face. I smile the best I could and pet him.

XXXXX

                I quickly get changed as soon as I wake up and spray myself with some cologne to be-rid myself of the Kurama smell. Kurama cocks his head to the side confused by my actions. I've never done that before when I slept out here with him, so of course he'd be confused.

                "Sorry boy, but you don't necessarily smell the greatest." I smile as he starts to wage his tail and pant with what looks like a smile on his face. "I'll see you later, Kurama." I scratch behind his ear and run off to school.

                When I got to the school, everyone was staring and laughing at me. Did I do something stupid? So I still smell? Is something on me? I also got a couple disgusted looks from some people. Okay, normally people just ignore my existence, what had changed that over night?

                "Uzumaki." I turn quickly to see Neji and Tenten walking up to me. Their expressions turned into confusion and humor as they got closer. "What the hell happened to you? Lose a fight or something? You're so weak." How about I punch you in the face and show you how weak I really am.

                "You can say that." I mutter.

                "I bet it's because you're a faggot."

                I arch a brow. "Excuse me?"

                Neji smirks. "The whole school already knows now."

                "Knows what?"

                "That you're gay." My eyes widen. "And they know that you like Uchiha." My heart beats faster. Now the school knows? Wait ... I don't like Uchiha!

                "I don't like S-"

                "You better watch out Uzumaki. Not from me, but from everyone else."

                "Why would I have to watch out?"

                "Don't be an idiot. Think about it, people love to pick on you and now there is a new reason for them to make your life miserable."

                "But ... why are you helping me? I thought you hated me."

                "I don't hate you, but I don't like you either. I'm merely helping you because I want to." Neji and Tenten start to walk off but Neji shouts over his shoulder. "I've stopped with teasing you long ago." They then disappear into the crowd. I quickly walk to my locker putting my stuff in my locker and grabbing my books, heading to my homeroom.

                I didn't even make it in two steps before I was tripped sending my books flying. I look up to see who it was, and it was none other than Gaara. He had a deadly glare set on his face as he looked down at me.

                "So you showed up." Gaara smirked sending chills down my spine. That smirk is terrifying. I have no idea what he is going to do, but whenever he smirked like this, it never ended well.

                "Yeah? Why wouldn't I?" I gather my books and put them on my desk. I turn and look at Gaara who was now glaring.

                "You're going to regret it." Gaara looked like he was restraining himself from punching me as he forced himself to take his seat. I also take my seat, a little more than surprised by Gaara's actions.

XXXXX

                P.E. my favorite class (sarcasm). Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty good at almost all the sports, but no one will ever let me try to play to prove myself. They normally leave me alone, or at their meanest they'd tell me that I' useless. Even though the class itself it terrible, what scares me the most is the locker room. Nothing ever happens though. Everyone is to busy getting dressed.

                I walk into the locker room and open my locker. I take my shirt off soon followed by my pants. I grab my shorts and slip them on, but that's all the further I got.

                I was pushed back against my locker making me wince slightly as the locks pushed into me. It hurt a lot more than normal, there must be a bruise there. I turn around looking for who did it.

                Gaara, seriously.

                I look past the red haired boy to see Sasuke standing behind him with his hands in his pockets.

                "Do we seriously have to change wit this fag in here? He's probably going to try something on one of us." I don't look away from Gaara, but I was really tempted.

                "I'm not doing anything, why can't you just leave me alone?"

                "How could anyone leave you alone now? You finally came out as the gay baby that we all knew you were."

                "Gaara, just leave him be." This shocked both me and Gaara when a deep voice sounded from right behind him. Sasuke ... is sticking up for me?

                "Whatever." Gaara pushed me into the locker once more before leaving. Sasuke looked me over once before adverting his eyes and leaving. I look down to see a couple bruises on my chest, I probably have some on my back too. I grab my shirt and go into the bathroom. I look in the mirror serious to what I looked like, since I didn't get to look very closely last night or this morning.

                There was a bruise on my arm that looked pretty bad and there were some on my stomach and chest. I reach up to my face and feel where I had gotten cut. It was bruised as well. I push on it lightly to see it hurt that bad. You could say that I wasn't doing that gain.

                I hurriedly put my shirt on when I hear someone coming. I look back to see Lee. I quickly push past him and go out into the gym before he could do anything.

                We line up and wait for the teacher to take role before we head outside. We had to run a lap around the track once before we could play soccer.

               As I was running someone came up behind me and tripped me making me fall and scrap my elbows and knees on the rough track. I cringe at the pain and stand up dusting myself off and continue to run. I could hear laughter coming from the others around me, but I ignore it as well as the pain that I was feeling and push on.

                When we finish and start the soccer game, the team the got me whined furiously. I warily made my way over to my team and stood in the back. I glance over at the other team and see everyone who hates me, then Sasuke, who I think hates me as well. I don't know, he gives me mixed signals.

                We start to run around as soon as the ball was kicked. I try and run to the ball, but my own team pushes me to the ground and runs to it before me. I get up not letting myself get fazed by their actions.

                The ball was coming straight to me so I go to kick it, but another teammate of mine pushes me with great force. I stumble for a bit trying to catch myself, but it was no use. I fell to the ground and got grass stains on my clothes. I clench my jaw and stand up turning around quickly, only to get kicked by Gaara as hard as he could in my shin.      

                "Do us all a favor and stay the fuck down." The kick was strong enough to make my leg give out and make me fall yet again. I hold my leg as best as I could without hurting it anymore than it already was. Not that holding it would help any, but I wanted to think it would. I moved my hands to see a giant bruise. I forgot that my dad stepped on my leg almost breaking it. I cringe as I try and move it. I somehow managed to stand, but as soon as I put pressure on it I fell almost instantly.

                I close my eyes and rest my forehead on my other knee that I brought up to my chest. I take a couple breathes and close my eyes as tight a possible.

                "Uchiha, what are you doing?!" The gyms teacher yelled sounding furious. "You're defense! You can't go over there!"

                I look up and see Sasuke walking towards me. What the hell is he doing? Is he coming to come beat on me too? When Sasuke reaches me he looked down at me and did something with his hand that made me flinch. As I wait for the punch, I realize that it probably wasn't coming. I slowly open my eyes to see Sasuke leaning over slightly holding out his hand to me.

                "Give me your hand already dobe, or do you not want my help?" My eyes slowly go wide and I timidly reach up not knowing if he was joking or not. But when I grab his hand, my theory of him joking was proved wrong. He pulled me up and held me steady. "I'm taking him to the nurse." Sasuke put my arm around his shoulder and helped me into the school.

                What the hell is going on?! You know what I meant by mixed signals? This is one of them! Is he bipolar or something? My brain just cannot comprehend this shit!

                After a while of awkward silence, I decided to speak.

                "W-why are you helping me?"

                No response huh? Okay, so he's not the talkative type. But the silence was unbearably uncomfortable for Naruto.

                "Well ... uh ... how-"

                "I don't know."    

                "Y-you don't know ... what?"

                "Why I'm helping you."

                "Oh ... well ... uh... thank-"

                "Don't thank me." Sasuke's voice was almost a growl making me jump slightly.

                "S-sorry."

                We didn't say anything for the rest of the way to the nurse's office. He opened the door and walked in, the door closing behind us. Shizune looked up, a little surprised.

                "Naruto, what happened?" She stands up from her desk and takes me from Sasuke. "Thank you for helping him here, Sasuke."

                "Hn." He then leaves us so we were the only two in the office.

                "Well ... u-um ... soccer."

                She sighs and gives me a don't -you-dare-lie-to-me-Uzumaki look.

                "I'm not lying." I bite my lip and look away from her. I had a nervous habit of biting my lips when I lie.

                "Take your shirt off." She walks into the back room where the beds are and she sets me on one of them. I take my shirt off and she looks me over. She then looks at my leg where the nasty bruise was. She lightly touched the bruise making me cringe. She stands up looking at me. "Stand up." I do as she asks, putting all my weight on my non-injured leg. She looks at my chest and stomach frowning. She then looks at my elbows and knees seeing the scratches. She grabs some bandages and wraps up my elbows and knees. She turns me around to look at my back and frowns.

                "Why do you have so many bruises Naruto? I know you don't bruise easily."

                "I already said it was from soccer."

                "These aren't all from soccer Naruto," She turns me back around to face her so that she can look at my face. She grabbed my chin and turned my face to see my cheek better. "What happened to your face?"

                "I ran into a wall." Well at least it's not a complete lie, so I don't have an urge to look away.

                "Well," She sighs. "There isn't much else I can do for you now."

                "Thanks for everything Shizune." I quickly walk out of the room, cringing at the pain in my leg as I walk into the locker room. Everyone was already in the changing. I hobble over to my locker and open it. I grab my shirt taking it off and put on my other shirt. I then quickly change my pants.

                I turn around as soon as the bell rings and I grab my books and leave.

XXXXX

                For lunch today, we all decided to have lunch with our newest teacher. Iruka.

                "Hey, Iruka!" I push through the door smiling with Kiba and Shikamaru following. I stop dead in my tracks. Kakashi was really close to Iruka and it looks like they were talking about something. "Did we interrupt something?" Kakashi takes a step back from Iruka.

                "No, we were just talking. Why are you guys here anyway? Did you want some help with your homework or something?"

                "No, we just wanted to eat lunch with you." We walk closer to them raking a seat at a couple of desks.

                "Oh, oka- Naruto, what happened to you?!" Iruka rushed over to me cupping my face in his hands and looks me over worriedly.

                "Oh, haha, this? Well it's a funny story." Iruka let go of my face and back up a little bit, clearly not amused.

                "Enlighten me." He crossed his arms and sat in front of his chest.

                "We asked him the same question, but he kept changing the subject." Kiba sighs looking at me. I scratch my the back of my head and laughed nervously. I glance at Kakashi, he was looking me over very carefully.

                "Uh ... I ... you know... can I have some help with my English homework now Iruka?" I smiles and looked to him, but Iruka glared at me and leaned back in his chair. I frown and advert my eyes to my hands that were resting on the desk. Whenever Iruka glared at me like this he could get anything out of him. "Okay, sorry." I look up laughing. " I just ran into a wall, well, I was pushed pretty hard into the corner of a wall and it cut me." I smile at Iruka who was frowning.

                "Who pushed you?" Iruka said leaning forward, carefully inspecting my reaction to see if I was lying this time.

                I slightly bite my lip. "I didn't see who it was."

                Iruka glared at me. " You lied to me." My eyes go wide and I felt my heartbeat begin to increase rapidly. I look at the found quickly. I can't tell him, but it's killing me to lie to him.

                I remember back to last night. _"I'm going to tell them. I'll tell Kiba, Shikamaru, Iruka, and maybe even Kakashi tomorrow." I let go of Kurama and look at his face. "I can do it."_ Why did I say that? I regret saying that now, but maybe I actually should.

                "I-I'm n...not ..." I tightly squeeze my eyes shut. My heart couldn't handle it anymore, it hurts so much. These people care about me and I should tell them. Maybe ... they could help me. I drop my head so my bangs so they cover my eyes. "I'm not lying." There was a quiver in my voice as I held back my tears that were stinging my eyes.

                "Naruto." When I heard the concern in Iruka's voice, I lost it. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I couldn't help but shake. I tried to repress it, but they must have seen the tears because Iruka stood up and hugged me rubbing my back as he whispered in my ear. " It's okay, calm down. I'm sorry for pushing you. It's okay."

                I wrapped my arms around Iruka and waited until I calmed down.

                "My parents." Iruka's grip on me loosened slightly.

                "What?" He pulled me away to look me in the eyes.

                "It was my parents." I look to the side to see Kakashi, Kiba, and Shikamaru all surprised as well as Iruka. So they weren't expecting that.

                "Your ... why did they do that?"

                I ended up spilling everything over the past two years up to what is happening now. I told them about all my rules that I had to follow, what happened if I broke a rule, everything. I told Kakashi that they half succeeded in burning the photo album that my parents gave to me. Saying he looked pissed would be an understatement, I'm just glad we couldn't see all of his face. He probably would have looked even scarier. I also told them about Sasuke and how he strangely helped me today in p.e.

                "That's very ... un-Sasuke like." Kakashi said with a curious look on his face. "I'll have to talk to him tonight. See what he's up to." He whispered that last part to himself, but Naruto heard it.

                "Tonight?" Kiba questions.

                "Yeah, Sasuke is staying with me for a while so I can straighten him out for his parents."

                "Why can't his parents do it?"

                "And why is he with you?"

                "They tried, but he has some problems that they couldn't handle. And to answer your question Naruto, I'm family friend of theirs."

                "We're missing the big conversation here Kakashi." Iruka scolded. Kakashi furrowed his brows, indicating the confusion. "What are we going to do about Naruto's parents?" The realization hit him.

                "Oh, right, I'll talk to th-"

                "No!" I yell.

                "Why?" Kakashi asks clearly not understanding why not.

                "Don't you remember the rule where it basically say they don't like the Hatakes?"              

                "Oh, yeah." Kakashi frowns looking agitated

                "Can we not do anything, please." I beg.

                "No, we have to do something. We can't let this continue, Naruto." Iruka frowns.

                "Iruka, please." I look at him with saddened eyes and he rolls his eyes away from mine. "I want to handle it myself."

                "Naruto I-"

                "Iruka." I give him a look telling him that I wasn't backing down. He looked around as if he was having a meltdown. He glanced to Kakashi and furrowed his brows. Kakashi, after a while, nodded making Iruka sigh.

                "Alright, but if this gets any worse, or happens again, I am going to be putting a stop to this. I do not like doing this. I want to help you now, Naruto. Not wait for this to happen again."

                "I know." Iruka didn't looked pleased, I know that he really wanted to help, but he can't. Not right now. If he talked to my parents then they would know that I told them, and that would lead to my certain death.

                I try my best to smile and reassure them. The bell rings so Kiba, Shikamaru and I stand up and leave. As we left, I could see Iruka saying something to Kakashi, clearly agitated. I frown and walk out the door.

                What telling them a mistake?

XXXXX

                I pull out my notebook and stare at my page. The ninja story needed something else. It was jus so ... boring. Maybe I should make a little trouble between the three teammates of team seven.

                The team consisted of two boys and a girl. There was the main character that I based off of myself, only he was happier and more confident. His name was Haru. The girl was persistent and controlling, but strong willed and never gave up. Her name was Nikki. Finally, the last team member was Kyo. He was grumpy and he liked his space. He was bent on revenge and vowed to kill his only relative left alive. He and the two others often butt heads, but they get along at times when they need to, or when nothing stressful is happening.

                I scratch the top of my head with my pen thinking of what to do. What if there was a surprise appearance of Kyo's older brother? I quickly scrap that idea. Too early in the story for that.

                How about I make Haru and Kyo bond ad then something happens to Kyo making him go crazy and he tells Haru that he is going to kill him too? Sounds a little harsh, but it's a possibility.

                I could feel the stare of Iruka bore into the top of my skull. Why is he looking at me? I look up and smile when I confirm his stare. Was he still worried about what I told him at lunch? He smiles and looks down at his desk once again. I glance over at Sasuke, he was writing ever since he sat down. I wonder what his story is about? If I even think about asking him, he'll probably slit my throat.

                It's strange to know that Sasuke lives with Kakashi. Even though I know I shouldn't care, I'm still curious about what his problem was that his parents couldn't deal with it. It's none of my business, but I can't help but be a little curious. Was he some kind of drug addict or something else?

                Sasuke stops his constant writing and looks over at me with a glare. I instantly snap my eyes down to my paper to avoid his death glare.

                Why did he always seem so angry? It's like he has a permanent scowl engraved into his face. The past few weeks that he's been here, all he's ever done is glare or scowl at everyone. Does he seriously hate people that much?

                He seemed like the one character in my story. Kyo. Did I unconsciously base that character off of Sasuke? No way, it's just a coincidence. There was no way that I based him off of Sasuke. I wasn't even thinking about Sasuke when I was writing that character.

                I shake my thoughts, there's no reason to get so worked up over something so trivial.

                I don't look up from my paper for the rest of class.

XXXXX

                "Why don't you go kill yourself you stupid fag." A student growls pushing me against a tree. I do my best not to show the pain. It normally wouldn't be very hard since I'm used to doing it, but since I had bruises all over my back, it made the task a lot harder.

                "It's no fun if he's not showing any pain. Why don't we go to the more drastic route." The boy's friend said as he smirked and pulled out a knife. I tried not to show the fear in my eyes. No matter how much I hated to admit it, I was terrified of knives when someone else other than myself was holding it.

                "Oh, look, his face got pale. Looks like we know his weakness." The boy's smirk grew. Damnit.

                "That's a pretty sharp knife you've got there, butter put it away before it hurts someone."

                "Who the hell-" The two turned to see who was there. "Oh, Kakashi sensei. O-of course, we were just showing this ... uh ... delightful blond here our favorite knife. W-we weren't going to ... uhm ... do anything, honest." The two we practically shaking as the one sputtered out an excuse.

                "Of course," Kakashi's visible eye turned from happy to terrifying in a matter of seconds. The two boys flinched as Kakashi grabbed their shoulders a little tighter than usual. "I suggest you never do that again. If I catch you with that knife on school grounds again I will not hesitate to turn you in. Now," Kakashi's eye turned into an upside down U indicating that he was smiling. "go home." Kakashi pushed them away from me and they ran off. He turned back to me with a comforting look. "Come with me, I'll give you a ride home."  

                I didn't question him, I just nod and follow him to his car and get in the passenger side. He starts up the car and pulls out of the school's parking lot.

                "Why don't you stick up for yourself?"

                This question kind of shocked me. I look up to Kakashi who didn't look from the road.

                "W-what do you mean?"

                "Back there a few minutes ago."

                I take a moment to think about my answer. I look out the window. "I don't know, I guess I don't know how."

                Kakashi doesn't respond until we got to my house. He pulls into my driveway and comes to a stop. "Come to Iruka's room at lunch and I'll teach you how to defend yourself." I nod, a little worried. He just smiles. "Just prepare yourself to fight." I swallow, a little more hesitant to nod this time before opening the car door and going into my house. I take my shoes off and do upstairs to my room. Surprisingly my mom wasn't home. I take my bag up to my room, then go back downstairs and outside to give some attention to my best pal, Kurama. Who, may I add, was very happy to see me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Practice**

                                I sit on my bed and lay back staring at the ceiling. My thoughts ended up going back to what happened at the tree. What that guy said. The words kept echoing in my head, and the longer I thought about it, the more curious I got.

                What would it be like to kill myself? It might not be as bad as I thought. I mean, I wouldn't have to deal with anything anymore. No more parents. No more bullies. No more stress. No temptation. No pain. Nothing.

                I shake my head furiously and stand up. Why am I thinking about that? I need to stop. I walk out of my room rubbing my face. I head down the hall and walk into the bathroom. I stop rubbing my face when I was standing in front of the bathroom sink.

                I bring my eyes up to the mirror. Why did I come in here? I look closer into the mirror and see that I was a lot more pale than usual. I'm normally pretty tan, but now, I looked like Sasuke. What is going on with me?

                I sit on the edge of the tub and sigh, I eventually end up sliding back into it. I look up in front of me, there was a shelf with shampoo, conditioner, soap, and razors. Of course my eyes would have to stop on the razors.

                I quickly look away. My life isn't that bad. My parents just hate me and sometimes beat me or make me sleep with Kurama. I get bullied a lot. Everyone practically hates me. My life could be a lot worse, right? Then why do I have this urge? Why am I curious? Why can't I forget about it?

                Before I knew it, I grabbed the razor and took out a blade. I look down surprised. I don't remember grabbing this.

                Okay. Put it down Uzumaki, just ... put it down. There's no need for this.

                Why can't I put it down?! I start to freak out on the inside from what I was doing.

                I turn it over in my palm and look at the shine on the razor from the light. I glance over and turn my wrist over. Maybe if I just ... No! I'm not giving in this time. I look at the ceiling again. What if by doing that ... my pain will go away.

                I grab the blade tightly between my fingers and bring it to my wrist. I push down and quickly slide it against my skin. It stung, but it wasn't unbearable. I cringe and blink a couple times looking at my now bleeding wrist.

                It's weird, but for a little while, all my other pain and thoughts went away making my focus on the pain on my wrist. For some reason I liked this pain better. Was it because it's new? I've haven't felt that in a long time.

                As soon as my wrist stopped hurting, everything else came flooding back. I hate this feeling I have in my heart right now. It's making my chest tighten and my throat swell.

                I end up doing this over and over again for a while before I stop myself. I looks at my wrist. Eight cuts run up my arm. I take a deep breath and furrow my brows quickly.

                "What the fuck am I doing?"

XXXXX

                The next day I ended up wearing my long sleeved orange and black coat. I used to wear it all the time because it felt safe, but I stopped for a while.

                When I cut myself last night, I wasn't really thinking of the consequences. What am I going to do in p.e? Would people see and make fun of me even more? I'm such an idiot. I bang my head down on my desk and stay there. I hear some laughter coming from some of the students.

                "I always knew he was crazy." Gaara said in a teasing tone.

                "Can you shut up, I'm trying to work." A sinister voice growled.

                "Well damn Uchiha." Gaara paused making me turn my head to look over at the group with my cheek resting on the desk. Gaara looked down to Sasuke's arms and grabbed one making him give Gaara one of the most terrifying glares I have ever witnessed.

                "Let. Me. Go."

                "Why do you always wear these wristband things? They have to be hot."

                "Do you have a problem with my choice of clothing?" Sasuke snapped ripping his arm away from Gaara.

                "I guess I do."

                "Get over it." Sasuke looked back down at his work and continued it.

                Gaara rolled his eyes and looked over at me glaring. "What the hell are you looking at Uzumaki?"

                I continue to stare for a second before slowly looking away.

                I wonder what Sasuke's favorite thing to do is?

                I blink a couple times and sit up. What the hell? Why do I care?

                The bell rings saving me from my thoughts, but as I stand to leave, I see Sasuke looking at me as if he knew something that I didn't. That was kind unnerving.

XXXXX

                "You haven't worn that jacket in a long time, scared about something?" Kiba asked as the three of us make our way to Iruka's room.

                "No, can I not just wear it because I want?" I cross my and raise an eyebrow.

                "No, well yes you can, but I just thought since ... you know what, never mind." Kiba sighed. "What are you going here for again?"

               "Naruto is getting some practice from Kakashi on how to protect himself, remember?" Shikamaru reminded him for the fifth time.

                "Oh, right, right. I remember now." Kiba says as I unfold my arms and scratch my left arm where the cuts were. "Do you have some kind of rash or something on your arm, Naruto?"

                I look at him confused. "No, why?"

                "You've been itching your arm all morning."

                "Oh," I instinctively stopped scratching. "no it's a bug bite." I laugh and walk through the door and see Kakashi and Iruka sitting down. All the desks were moved out of the center making it really open. They both look over to us and Kakashi stands.

                "Just so you know, I do not approve of this." Iruka huffs.

                "I already told you I won't hurt him ... intentionally." Kakashi smirks at Iruka's uncomfortableness.

                "Kakashi, go help me if you hurt him..." Iruka warned with the best glare he could manage right now. Kakashi smiled walking over to me.

                "It'll be okay, Iruka." Kakashi grabs my shoulder and pulls me to the center of the room. "Okay, now I want you to come at me full force."

                I nod and step back a little. I narrow my eyes and look around him before running at him pretty fast, but in a blink of am eye I was on my back with a knee on my chest.

                "That all you got?" Kakashi picked on me, a smirk growing on his face underneath his mask.

                "No." I huffed attempting to get free. He gets off allowing me to breath with ease. He helped me up and stepped back.

                "Try getting behind me and knock me down."

                I stepped back and pushed myself forward with more force, but as soon as I got closer to him I duck at his attack and step to the side. I was just about to kick his legs out when I was, yet again, knocked on my back. I open my eyes and stare straight up. Kakashi smiled and helped me up.

                "Better, but not good enough."

                I step back determined now. He smirked and readied himself in a different stance. He must have seen that I was serious now. I look over his stance before charging. I quickly punch for his chest, but he blocks it and throws my fist off to the side. I bring my leg up to kick him in the side, but he, again, stepped it.

                He turned my ankle making me almost fall on my face, but I stop myself. I bring my other leg around full force hitting him in the side of the face. He lets me go and stumbles backwards. I turn to face him standing proudly.

                Kakashi also stands straight up, holding where I had kicked him. "You have some powerful legs." Kakashi laughs making me smile.

                "Okay, that's enough practice. Now sit down and relax why don't you?" Iruka walked over to both of us and pushed us into a seat. I see Kakashi look over to me smiling, his smile made me give my happiest smile that I've given in a long time.

                "Tomorrow we can continue."

                "Right." I nod enthusiastically. Even though it was cut short because of Iruka's incapability of being a worry wart, I still learned a lot. Everyone laughs at Iruka hitting his head off the desk that he sat down at. He didn't seemed pleased.

XXXXX

                "Long day?" Kakashi asked as we got into his car.

                "You could say that." I sigh deeply as I lean back in the chair.

                "What happened?"

                "The usual I guess. I only got punched five times though, that's an improvement."

                "That's not ... " Kakashi sighed knowing it was no use to argue about that with me. "Anything else?"

                "Well, I ..." I look out the window to see Sasuke walk past the car with Gaara and some guy with slivery white hair. I look over to see Kakashi who had an eyebrow arched. "Doesn't Sasuke live with you?"

                "Yes."

                "Why does he walk home then?"

                Kakashi sighs starting the car and pulling out. "He doesn't like to spend alone time with me really. He told me that he's rather walk than have me drive him."

                "He sounds ... delightful." I see Kakashi's sad smile and look out the window to see Sakura running up to Sasuke and slinging onto his arm like her life depended on it.

                "He doesn't mean to be like that."

                I quickly look back to Kakashi, his sentence caught my attention. "What do you mean?"

                "He has always had a hard time trusting people. He's only ever trusted one person and that person ended up betraying him in a very horrible way." I was about to speak to ask who it was, but he cut me off. "I'm not going to tell you who it was thought."

                I purse my lips to the side and sigh. He can read minds, I swear. "That doesn't mean that everyone is like that though."

                "I know that, but Sasuke won't listen to me." We both fell silent until we got to my house. When he stopped the car, I didn't get out because I knew he was going to say something ... or maybe not. I open the dooe and swing my legs out, standing up.

                "Naruto." There it was.

                "Yes?" I bed down to look at Kakashi.

                "I have a favor to ask of you."

XXXXX

                I plopped down on my bed heaving the biggest sigh I could manage. After a few minutes I decided that moving would be a good choice. I sat up and took my jacket off. I glance at my wrist that was now scabbed over for the most part.

                I crawled over my bed to my desk and grabbed the photo album from a drawer. I opened it to where I last was and flipped through it again. The next page showed a blond man that sort of resembled myself. Maybe this is my father. I smile at the thought.

_This is Minato, he's your father._

_He's a wonderful person. He would_

_always say nice things to everyone and_

_always help people. Cheering people up_

_was probably his best thing he liked to_

_do though. He would cheer anyone up_

_that needed it, even if that person hated_

_him. I guess it's just part of his personality,_

_but that's what I've always admired about him._

                I look at all the pictures, he's smiling in all of them. Even though he was warily smiling in a few as my mother was yelling at some people.

                I flip the page and see my mom.

_This is Kushina, your mother. She_

_is one person you really don't want_

_to make angry, but she is really sweet_

_all the other times that she's not angry._

_She can always keep a smile on my face,_

_along with keeping me in line. She makes_

_sure to take good care of everyone. I never_

_go a day without a meal. If it weren't for her,_

_I would lose my head it if wasn't attached._

                I look through the pictures of her and smile. I really want to be able to meet them all. I've met Kakashi, but that's it. I flip to the back of the book and see a page taped onto the back cover. It looks like a letter that my parents wrote.

                _Dear Naruto,_

_We are writing this letter because we want you to have something from us. We know that we don't have long left to live. Your mother and I are really sorry that we couldn't be there to watch you grow up. I would have loved nothing more than to see you with all of your friends laughing and smiling. We were only with you for a day before everything that happened. The one thing that I remember the most about you, is your smile. Even as a new born baby, your smile could put the sun to shame. It was one of the most affecting smiles that I have ever seen. It was contagious, that's what I loved. Even though we had to leave you as soon as we finally got you, your smile warmed our hearts. Never let that smile falter, Naruto. It has the ability to change those around you. If your having a bad day, try to remember that it will get better. If you see someone else having a bad day, help them. One last thing before we have to leave._

_We love you, Naruto. Never forget that._

_Love,_

_Your mother and father._

                I was holding back some tears that were stinging my eyes. My father must have been writing this the day they were killed. I look over at the opposing page to see a picture of my parents holding me with smiles as bright as the sun of their faces. I let a small tear fall from my eye before wiping it away.

                Why did they have to die? Someone killed them, right? Why?

                There were so many questions I wanted to ask them, but there was an obvious reason why that couldn't happen. That's when it occurred to me. Maybe Kakashi would know.                 I lay back on my bed holding my photo album close to my chest. I wonder where their grave it.

XXXXX

                How could I possibly do the favor that Kakashi asked me to do? Befriend Sasuke? Is he crazy? Sasuke will kill me if I even so much as look at him. How the hell is he expecting me to actually talk to him, let alone get close enough to talk to him?

                He's scary! I know Kakashi is teaching me to defend myself, but I don't think all the training in the world would make me confident enough to even think about punching him.

                What if he gets really pissed at me and tries to kill me? I won't be able to fight back very well, if at all. He would probably be coming at me and I would cower like a little kit getting scolded by it's mother if Sasuke attacked me.

                I know Kakashi said that he doesn't get into fights unless you seriously piss him off, but I tend to have that affect on people.

                I look over and see Sasuke walk into homeroom and take a seat. I take a deep breath.

                Okay, you can do this Uzumaki, you can do this!

                I go to stand up but then Gaara walks in.

                Later, you can do it later.

                I casually slump back into my chair as if nothing happened.

XXXXX

                "Hoe the hell do you expect me to-" I quickly duck Kakashi's swing at my head. "get even moderitly close to Sasuke?"

                "He's not that unapro-" I kick him making him stop for a second. "-chable, just ... be confident and don't look like you're about to piss your pants or else he won't give you any-" I again attempt to hit him in the face but he stops me. "chance to be his friend."

                I duck at another punch from Kakashi and roll over to him springing up and hitting him under the jaw and tripping him so he falls onto his back. "That's-" Kakashi trips me as well, making me fall right next to him. "easier said then done." We both lay there only moving to breath. We stay there until we both catch our breath.

                "You can do it, I have confidence in you." He sits up holding himself up with one outstretched arm behind him.

                "Kakashi."

                He looks back to me over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

                "My parents were murdered, right?" I say this quietly so Kiba, Shikamaru, and Iruka won't hear what we're talking about. Kakashi must know that I don't want them to heat because he stands up nodding to the far back of the room. I just stand and follow him. We both take a seat and I wait for him to reply.

                "Yes, they were murdered."

                "...By who?" I clench the sleeves of my orange jacket tightly.

                Kakashi waits for a while before responding. "Itachi ..." I frown furrowing my brows and clench my jacket even more. "...Uchiha." My eyes widened and my grip went slack.

                "Y-you ... mean it was S-Sasu-ke's ..."

                "Brother, yes."

                I look down at the ground feeling really conflicted right now. I glare and grab a first full of my black jeans. "Why?" I almost whisper it quiet enough as if I was talking to myself.

                "I wish I knew."

                "...My parent's grave?" I look up at him. "They have one right?"

                Kakashi gave me a small smile. "Yes, they have one. They are in the graveyard by the church." I nod and look at the ceiling.

XXXXX

                This is it, It's no big deal. He's not that scary, is he? I glance over to Sasuke then quickly looked away before he would notice. I look up at Iruka to see him intently watching me struggle. I send him a distress signal and he just smiles and nods towards Sasuke.

                He's absolutely no help.

                I sit up straight and start to say something, but then I stop just before the words came out. I hit my head off my desk and heave a big sigh. Why can't I do it?

                "Alright class, you've had a while to work on your short stories, so I am going to pair you up with someone and you can share them."

                I froze up at Iruka's words. Is he trying to help? This is not a good way of helping Iruka! I can't share my story with him! Or with anyone for a matter of fact.

                "But Iruka!" Sakura whined.

                "No complaining, I don't want to hear it. Sakura and Ino, Shino and Sai, Neji and Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto, and Tenten and Lee."

                I was about to bang my head off of my desk again. This can't be happening. I look at my story, careful not to look over at Sasuke. I could tell that he was looking at me. Iruka, whyyy? I regret asking for his help now.

                I take a deep breath and muster up my courage to finally look over at him and smile. "I guess you're stuck with me." I try and laugh, but it sounded really forced. I just sigh and look down to my story. "U-um, do you know if we are just supposed to talk about them or do we read each others?"

                "I don't know," He looked back at all the other groups. "everyone else just exchanged them." Sasuke handed me his story so I took it and looked at it. This is actually happening. I must have been sitting there not doing anything longer than I thought because Sasuke spoke again. "You going to give me yours?"

                "Huh?" I widen my eyes and look at him. He didn't have my story. "Oh, right, sorry." I grab it and hand it to him. He takes it and starts to read, so then I decide to start as well.

                His story wasn't surprisingly about murder, crime, illegal stuff, hatred, or anything I thought that Sasuke would write about. Okay, now that I think about it, all that stuff is in here, but there's something that I never thought I'd see Sasuke write. It was about ... romance? I'm still trying to fin out if he actually meant for it to turn into a romance or not.

                All of the character's actions and thoughts lead me to believe that it is. It's kind of an unusual romance story though. Unlike any I've heard of or read (yes, I've read romance novels, so what).

                It's got the typical boy girl thing going on. The boy however is training to become an assassin. When he finally became a full-fledged assassin, his first assignment was to track down and assassinate someone. He found the one he was meant to kill, but he couldn't do it. It was the girl. He felt something when he finally saw her eyes.

                That's basically what it's about.

                I stare at the last page for a minute before looking up to see Sasuke staring at the wall in front of us.

                "Your story is really good, I have to say I was a little surprised that you decided to write about a romance." I laugh a little bit and we trade our stories back. Sasuke didn't say anything so we sat there in silence. I look down at my desk, desperately trying to think of something to talk about.

                "Your story was good, you really make it so the reader can feel the character's emotions. As I was reading it, I felt as though I was in Haru's position." I smile and look to my hands. He liked my story.

                "Naru-"

                "Sasu-" My eyes widen and I see Sasuke looking away. "S-sorry, did you want to say something?"

                He pauses before he speaks. "It's not important."

                I frown and look away from him. "Okay."

                Silence again. The only noise was of idle chatter of the other student.

                "Why does everyone hate you so much?" I widen my eyes, more than a little shocked by his question. I frown and mess my hands that rested on my lap.

                "I'd like to know the answer to that question as well." I whisper it as if I was speaking to myself, but Sasuke heard it. I wasn't going to say anything else because I don't want him to get annoyed with me. I try not to talk my personal life unless someone asks about it since it tends to be a depressing subject to me.

                "You have a couple of friends, right?"

                "Yeah, Kiba and Shikamaru." I look over to him. Even though he hid it well on his face, I could still see a slight pain in his eyes. "What about you, who are your friends?"

                "I wouldn't call them friends." I furrow my brows so he knew that I was confused. "They never listen to anything I say and they always fight with me."

                "They listen to you when you told them to leave me alone." He looks over to me for a second and shakes his head. "Oh ... and ... why do you stick up for me anyway?" When I see his really confused/hurt expression I quickly add more to what I said. "N-not that I wish you didn't ... I-I-I just was wondering cause ... uhm ... you know ... no one ever sticks up for me or anything and I-I thought that ... uh ..." I quickly look down to my desk to stop myself from saying anything else. I glance over out of the corner of my eye and I swear I saw the slightest smile on his face before it turned back into a scowl.

                "I don't see it."

                "S-see what?"

                "Everyone always said that you were this arrogant, annoying, asshole, but ever since I started school here all you've ever been was reserved, nice, and you never bother anyone unless you have to." Did he just compliment me? I could feel a smile growing. I could help but smile my biggest and happiest smile at him. I would have been happier if I hadn't seen the frustration written all over his face.

                Before I could say anything to him, the bell rang and he stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow." I nod and when everyone left I let my smile fall.

                "Iruka." He was now sitting next to me.

                "What is it?"

                "When I looked into his eyes, all I saw was hatred, betrayal, pain, sorrow, and sadness. I know those feelings all too well, and I don't want anyone else to feel that way."

                "Then help him, I know you can." Iruka put a hand on mine and smiled before getting up and leaving.

XXXXX

                I walk up to my room and sigh. What could I possibly do for him? He doesn't seem like the type to want help from anyone. Maybe if I just become someone he can trust that, that'll help him in some way. But how do I do that? Maybe I could give him ... I don't have a phone. That's out of the question.

                The doorbell rings making me jump up. Who could that be? I walk down the stairs to see my mom had answered the door.

                Shikamaru?

                My eyebrows furrow and he just glances at me before looking back to my mom. She nods smiling and turns around as if to yell my name, but she stops when she sees me standing behind her on the steps. Her smile instantly drops into a glare.

                "Shikamaru's here for you." She says before leaving. As if I couldn't already see that myself. I walk up to him and stand in the doorway.

                "What are you doing here?"

                "What, is it illegal to visit my friend?"

                "Not really I guess, but ..."

                "Relax Naruto, your parents like me, remember."

                "Yeah, I know."

                "Can you come out here? I'm going to be able to stay long since my mom has me overloaded with work." I nod walking outside. I close the door and stand next to him.

                "I know something about Sasuke."

                "What?"

                "I know the reason why he had to move here. Kiba told me that I should probably tell you, so here I am." I narrow my eyes and look at the ground. Do I really want to know? Yes. But should I know this if Sasuke hadn't told me himself? No. There is a reason her doesn't tell people why he got moved here, and if he wants me to know why he moved here then he'd tell me.

                I felt my heartbeat quicken and I clench onto the edge of my sleeves. "I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't curious, because I am." I look at him with a small frown. "But I don't think it would be right of me to dig into his personal life if he isn't the one who is telling me about it." Shikamaru smiles slightly and looks away.

                "I figured you'd say that. Okay, well, I don't feel like getting my head chewed off so I'd better go." He turns around walking down the path that leads to the sidewalk.

                "Shikamaru," He looks back as I open the door. "Thank you." He smiles and waves as he continues to his house.

                A couple hours after Shikamaru left, I felt the sudden longing for a familiar pain. Why do I feel this way? Nothing bad has happened recently, so I shouldn't have this feeling. All of a sudden my head started to pound and my stomach muscles tightened. What is going on with me? I stand up and make my way to my desk drawer. I open it staring down at it's contents. I grab the scissors and fall to the ground as my legs gave out. I lean back against my bed's side closing my eyes.

                My head was still pounding, but my stomach has calmed. I open my eyes staring down to the object in my hand. I shrug off my jacket and open the scissors.

                "I don't need to do this."

                But you want it. I furrow my brows at my inner self and clench the weapon tightly in my hand.

                "Are you stupid, no I don't."

                Stop lying to yourself, you know you want it.

                "Shut it, I'm not like that!"

                Then why did you get this far?

                "I ... wasn't going to do anything."

                I bet you want to help that Uchiha boy, right? Don't even try denying it.

                "Yeah I want to help him, I wouldn't lie about that."

                Well guess what, you cant.

                "I can't what?"

                Save him. You're too weak. Too fragile.

                "Shut up, you don't know anything!"

                Oh don't I? I live in you, so I know everything there is to know about you. I even some things that you don't. Like the fact that Uchiha is playing you.

                "He's not playing me."

                He doesn't care about you.

                "We aren't even friends yet."

                Yes, I know that. I'm trying to save us from this pain and betrayal.

                "Us?"

                Yes us. I told you that I live inside of you. I'm in your head. Therefore I am you.

                "I would never be anything like you."

                Oh, but you are. I'm trying to tell you that you just need to give up on this boy.

                "No, he needs my help."

                Help from someone that cannot even save themselves is meaningless. He is falling into his own darkness, deeper and deeper every day. He is losing himself. If you try to go into his darkness to bring some light, you will only end up being crushed and engulfed by the darkness that surrounds him. You do not have it in you to save him.

                "Shut up..."

                You will only serve to get both of you even more hurt than before.

                "Shut up."

               You'll only be getting his hopes up just so you can send them hurling back down ten fold. You'll cause his destruction, or he, yours.

                "I said shut up!"

                I grab the scissors frighteningly tight and slam them down onto the top of my hand. After a few seconds, and my adrenaline stopped running wild, I felt like screaming at the pain in my hand. I shoot my gaze down to my hand and cringe even more as I see how deep I stabbed. The blood was pouring off my hand in a light steady stream. I bite my lip trying to get my mind off of my hand and push my left hand down onto the ground and getting onto my knees. I touch them once as lightly as possible and it felt absolutely horrific. I take a deep breath closing my eyes and grab them, and just as quickly, I pull them out letting out a gasp of pain. I lean forward holding my hand to hopefully calm to bleeding a little bit. The blood was rushing out faster now. Fuck. Oh shit, ow. I open my eyes and look at how bad it was.

                Well, that's gonna leave a mark.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Surprise Visit**

                "What the hell happened to your hand?!" Kiba grabbed my hand a little too harsh making my wince.

                "Watch it Kiba, it still hurts."

                "Then tell me what the hell you did."

                "I just got stabbed, okay." I pull my hand away from his inquisitive stare and we walk through Iruka's door.

                "Just? Just got stabbed?! How?" Kiba says in a harsh whisper. He was being persistent. I didn't want to tell him 'Oh, you know. I was having a fight with the other me inside my head. He was pissing me off and he wouldn't shut up so I kind of stabbed myself.' I would sound crazy ... even though that's what happened.

                "Hey Iruka, Kakashi." I sit next to them and they nod and smile.

                "Iruka, Naruto got st-" I jump up and cover his mouth pulling him into a tight hug as I nervously laugh.

                "Naruto got what?" Iruka asked looking at us both with a very confused look.

                "I got-"

                Kiba forcefully pulled my hand from his face to finish his sentence from earlier. "Stabbed." He looks over to me and I glare at him.

                "What?!" Iruka shot up and was next to me within a second, looking me over frantically. "Where is it? Who did it? When did it happen?"

                "Must have happened after I left because he was fine when I was there." Shikamaru says taking a seat. Iruka found the bandage and carefully help my hand. He looked up at me then back to Kakashi. Kakashi nodded and walked back to the closet grabbing a first aid box and handing it to Iruka. HE started to unwrap my hand carefully.

                "Iruka, it's fine, really You don't have to do that."

                "Naruto, shut up." Iruka snapped making me visibly flinch and look to the ground. "I know you, I know how you take care of things. Messy and unorganized. It could get infected if you didn't clean it properly." He finished unwrapping it and stopped. I look at it and cringe. It looked terrible. "Naruto, did your parents do this to you?" Iruka looked up to me with a glare.

                "No!"

                "You aren't lying to me, are you?"

                "No, I'm not. It really wasn't them."

                "Then I want you to tell me what happened."

                "Okay, but can I do it later?" Iruka didn't seem pleased by my answer, but he took it anyway. He cleaned the wound well and took one last look at it.

                "You could possibly need stitches."

                "What? There's no way it's that bad. Can you even get stitches on your hand?"

                "If it's bad enough, which it is, Naruto. Take your jacket off so I can wrap it back up."

                "No." I pull my arm away quickly making Iruka along with everyone else look at me shocked, maybe I moved away a little too quickly. "I mean, can't you just wrap it up like this? It is only my hand after all."

                "I guess so." He wrapped it up having a little trouble because my jacket kept getting in the way, but he managed.

                "I'll take you to the hospital after school today to get it looked at." Kakashi said making me look to him. I was about to refuse, but the expression in his one eye was enough to scare little children. It looked like that one he had on the day that he saved me from those boys, so I just nod.

XXXXX

                "Naruto, Sasuke stop talking." I lean back in my seat as Iruka scolded us, Sasuke just scoffed and continued to pretend like he was writing.

                A minute later he spoke again. "What happened?"

                "What?" I whispered looking over. He nodded to my hand. "Oh, this. I just got a little hurt is all. Of course Iruka being the overprotective fatherly figure he is, freaked out when he sound out." I laugh a little bit and look back sown to my notebook to make it look as if I was working.

                "It sounds like you two are pretty close."

                "Yeah, I guess we are. He's been my teacher since kindergarten and for almost all of my time in elementary school This is his first year in high school. And since I didn't really have anyone then, he took the role as someone I could call family." I smile warmly at my writing as I remember the first time that I met him. "I remember the first time that I got into trouble. Boy was Iruka pissed. He couldn't do anything to really punish me though since I didn't live with him, but he made me write a letter of apology to the teacher. He wouldn't let me take a break or anything, it was torture, but I'm pretty sure that's what he was aiming for." I chuckle and glance over to Sasuke. He was smiling, it was very, very feint, but it was a smile in the least.

                "What did you do? To your teacher that is."

                "Well you see, I swear that she had it out for me since the very first day. She never let me do anything fun. I mean, even though I fell asleep in her class everyday doesn't mean you need to give me extra homework. I was six for crying out loud, six year olds need their sleep! But one day she made me clean the whole room all by myself for something that the girls did, so as I was cleaning I saw she wasn't paying attention to me so I took a glue bottle and snuck over behind her taking the cap off and dumped it in her hair." I sigh and smile. "It was totally worth it."

                I look up and see Iruka glaring at me so I stop talking and drop my gaze down to my paper for a while, but I didn't stay quiet for long. "That reminds me of another prank I pulled on her. Okay, so she always had this chap stick that she always used so I got a glue stick and wrapped the chap stick label around the glue and I put some cherry smelling stuff on it so it wouldn't smell like ... you know ... glue." I smile and continue. "Well, you can say that she was livid with me and she wanted to punt me out of her room as soon as I walked in." I looked over to Sasuke. He was hiding a laugh, only slightly failing. If it wasn't for that fact that his shoulders shook for a second, you wouldn't have been able to tell.

                "Naruto, Sasuke! Last warning!" We both stopped what we were doing and looked to furious, yet funny, expression then back to each other. That's all we needed to both burst out laughing uncontrollably. Granted Sasuke was holding back his laugh a little better than I was, but not by much. I heard Iruka bang his head off of this desk and that only proved to make us laugh even harder.

                "You two love talking so much, then why don't you come with me." Iruka stood up walking to the door waiting for us. We both grabbed our stuff and walked with Iruka still laughing our asses off.

XXXXX

                Okay, so he took us to a room for the remainder of the day. I don't know if that was a punishment or a reward. I got to talk to Sasuke for the rest of the day, and that surely wasn't and kind of punishment to me.

                Now I'm in the hospital with Kakashi.

                "My parents are going to kill me."

                "I'll explain when I take you back home."

                "No, that'll only make matters worse. Do you keep forgetting? My parents don't like you for whatever reason."

                "I'm sure I can have Iruka do it then." He scratches the back of his neck indicating that he did, indeed, forget.

                "They'll probably then yell at me for letting myself get hurt enough to have to go to the hospital."

                "I'll take care of it Naruto, don't worry about it."

                We sat in silence for a while before I decided to speak again. "Kakashi, could you drop me off at the graveyard on the way back? He looked a little shocked by this question, but he nodded and smiled. That's when we heard a knock on the door and the doctor came in a few seconds after with a big smile on his face.

                "Hello, I'm Dr. Kurosaki. You're here to get a check up and to check out something to do with your hand, is that right?" The doctor was looking at his clipboard as he said this.

                "Yes, that's right." Kakashi said. A check up? What is that? I've never had one of those before. I look over to Kakashi confused and he just smiled. This isn't going to be good, I just know it.

                "Okay, Naruto. Let's take a look at your hand first." I hold out my hand and he carefully unwrapped it. The bandages were covered in blood when he got to the bottom layers of it. I look at my hand when it was completely off and see that when I pulled out the scissors, I must have pulled back a little bit because the wound led back a little ways. He pushed my sleeve up and I slightly flinched. He frowned and looked up to me. "You're definitely going to need to get stitches." He stepped back and over to a drawer on the opposite side of the room and grabbed some supplies. He comes back over sitting on a rolling chair and a try with wheels. He placed the stuff on the tray and looked to me. "Could you please take off your jacket, it'll make things easier for me."

                "Uhm ... yeah, sure." I shrug off the jacket and hold it on my lap, careful to not show my wrist.

                "Okay, put your hand on this." He pointed to the little table in front of him, so I rested my hand on it. "This shouldn't take too long."

XXXXX

                "That was terrible, remind me never to let you take me to the hospital ever again." I hold my jacket across my lap as I get into the car. Kakashi laughs starting it up.

                "I didn't know you never had your shots, how did you get into kindergarten without them?"

                "How should I know, I just went."

                "Well, do you want to go get ice cream or something before I drop you off?" My expression immediately turned from a sulk, to a very excited grin making Kakashi smile. "Ice cream it is then."

                We drive to the ice cream parlor and get our ice cream. I got a cone with two scoops of chocolate and Kakashi got a vanilla soft serve. We sat outside at the parlor for a little while and talked until we finished our cones.

                When we were both done, we got back into the car and went to the cemetery. We pulled up to it and stopped at the gates.

                "Naruto, do you want me to wait for you?" I pause to think it over for a minute.

                "No, you should probably get home." I opened the door and looked back to Kakashi once more. "Oh yeah, I have a question for you." He looked to me and raised his brow. "Are you dating Iruka?" He didn't answer for a little while, but he eventually smiled and his eye turned into an upside down u.

                "Sure am." I smile and stand straight up.

                "I thought so." I close the door and walk down the path that was covered by trees. I heard Kakashi drive away by the time I got to the end of the path. That's when it hit me, I left my jacket in his car. Damnit.

                I'll just get it tomorrow if he leaves it in his car. I sigh and rub my shoulder. For some reason it hurt. I must have done something weird to make it feel like this.

                I look at the names on the gravestones as I pass them. It took me a good while to actually find them.

                Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze.

                Wait, Namikaze?

                If that's my father's name, then why isn't my last name Namikaze?

                I walk up closer and sit in front of the engraved granite. What now? Do I talk or something? Just sit here? I frown looking down to the ground.

                "I don't really know what I'm supposed to do right now, so I guess I'm going to talk." I look up to the sky leaning back onto my hands. "I got your present that you told Kakashi to give to me. My adopted mom tried to burn it though." I roll over next to the side of the gravestone and laid back with my hands behind my head, I just lay there for a minutes before I talk again. "There's so much I want to tell you. I have some friends now. There's Kiba, Shikamaru, Iruka, and obviously Kakashi. He did give me the present after all." I grin and close my eyes. "Iruka did his best to take care of me, but I think I made it really hard for him. He would always help me out of trouble, which happened a lot." I chuckle a little. "Looking back, I wish I hadn't caused all that trouble for him. All he's ever done was care for me as if I was his own son. I'm pretty sure you know him, but if you don't then I wish you could have." I smile, but it soon turns into a frown as I roll onto my side. "I wonder how different my life would have been if you were still alive. I really wish I could have met you."

                "You did, too bad you just don't remember." I snap open my eyes and jump up, tensing as I see someone walking towards me.

                "Who are you?"  

                "That's not very important." The man was getting closer, and the closer he got, the more he resembled Sasuke.

                "What do you want?"

                "Me? Oh, nothing as of right now." I glare at him and he just smirks. "Fine, I'll tell you what I want later, it's not important right now." He kept advancing towards me. I didn't even notice that I was backing up until the back of my legs hit my parent's gravestone.

                "Stop right there." He was six feet in front of me now, making me really cautious.

                "Why so tense?"

                I look him in his charcoal eyes and glare. "A random stranger comes up to me out of the middle of nowhere, in a graveyard no less, and was listening to me talk. I'm going to be a little tense."

                "But you see, that's where you're wrong. I'm not a complete stranger."

                "What are you talking about?"

                "You know a boy named Uchiha Sasuke at your school, right?" He ignored my question completely.

                "Why do you ask."

                "I want you to give him a message fro me." He smirks making me glare even more. He took a few quick steps to me making me almost fall over the gravestone, but he wrapped his arm around my back to hold me from falling. My pulse quickened as he pulled me closer, leaning down to my height. "I want you to tell him to hurry up or you'll lose him before you can even get him." He nipped my ear making me jump before he backs up smirking. "Thanks, Naruto." He leaves me standing there in shock.

                "Uhm ... no ... uh ... problem?" My eyes widen as the realization hits me. Did he say my name?

XXXXX

                I sit on a bench with a deep sigh. The walk back was taking longer than expected. It was already getting dark. Why did I have Kakashi leave? I can't even call him to come get if I wanted.

                A man startled me as he took a seat next to me with a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag in his hand. HE looked over at me and caught me staring at him, so I quickly look away.

                "Want some?" I look over and see him offering his bottle to me. I quickly shook my head. "Oh, I see. You probably don't want to drink after a stranger." I look to the ground then to him again. "Here, it's a new bottle." HE puts the bottle next to me and takes a swig of his own.

                "I-I can't, I'm only 16." The man looks to me.

                "One drink won't hurt." He looks forward again. "And plus, you look like you could use a drink." I look at the bottle them to him. He was looking at me from the corner of his eye.

                "I can't pay you back."

                The man just shrugged. "I don't care."

                I look to the bottle once more and tentatively grabbed it. I turn it over in my hands, scrutinizing it. "This isn't some kind of joke, right?" I look at him once more suspiciously.

                "No, why would it be a joke?"

                "People don't normally like me, so I always assume something nice is a joke, sorry."

                "Don't worry about it, I understand."

                I glance to the bottle again. Tequila? I shrug and open it. I feel the man tap my shoulder so I look over and see that he had a little glass in his hand. I take it, and apparently I looked confused because he took my bottle and pored it in the glass.

                "Take it all at once."

                I take the bottle back when he handed it to me. I quickly throw my head back with the glass to my lips and swallow the liquid. I lean forward and cough a little bit.

                "Great, isn't it?" The man laughs. "Here, have another." The man poured more into the glass with a huge grin on his face. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was actually pretty good. I take it again, but this time I didn't really have to cough.

                I probably shouldn't take too many of these. It would be bad if I got drunk.

                I glance over to see the man drinking his from the bottle. I shrug and try it. It's a lot easier than pouring it into the cup each time. I set the cup next to the man and take another swig of the liquid.

                The man looks over to me and smiles. I take the bottle away from my lips and hold it in my lap. I should probably stop, but I didn't want to. We sat there until it became completely dark out. I wouldn't be able to see if it weren't for the light right beside us. I hand him the bottle to the man and sigh.

                "I should probably go." He frowned and but nodded. I stand up almost falling over, but I catch myself. I feel kind of ... funny, but I guess that's bound to happen when you drink alcohol.

                I was walking down the street not really knowing where I was particularly going. I couldn't really see and my mind was just wondering off in every which way. All of a sudden I bump into someone.

                "Sorwy." I slur my words as I grab their shoulders to steady myself and I laugh. I let go and continue walking. I try my hardest to walk straight, but it wasn't working. I run into something else, but it was a lot smaller and a lot harder. "Sorwy." I pat the top of the object and hear a metal noise. I look down and smile. It's just a garbage can. I continue down the road and I came upon a house after a little while. I pause on the sidewalk to stare up at the house. It's not mine, who's is it? If it was light out then I might know where I was.

                I see a light come on in the top story window. There was someone with spiky hair. There was also a big dog that jumped up onto something. Kiba. He's the only one I know with a dog that big.

                I stumble up to the door and knock. I wanted before knocking even more, only this time I didn't stop knocking until I heard scampering footsteps down the stairs. The door swings open to reveal a very agitated Kiba.

                "What do you- Naruto?" Kiba's expression changed from anger to confusion.

                "Heeey Kiba! How's it gowin bud?" I leaned forward and wrapped my arm around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder.

                "Naruto what- are you drunk?"

                "What? Me? Drunk? Pfft, not you silly goose." I patted his cheek and laughed. He sighed deeply pulling me into his house and closing the door.

                "Mom, Naruto is spending the night!" Kiba shouted walking up the stairs, practically dragging me up them since I kept stumbling. When we get to his room he shuts the door and sits me on his bed. "Your breath even smells like alcohol." Kiba sighs and sits himself next to me. I sit up and look to the window. Akamaru was asleep under the windowsill. I smile at how cute he looked.

                "Akamaru is really cute, ya know."

                "Yeah, I know. Now will you tell me what happened?"

                "What happened?"

                "Yes, Naruto. What happened."

                "With what?"

                "With you, stupid."

                I smile. "Oh." I start to laugh. "Well you see, I think I someone important at da graveyawd today. And he told me to tell Sawsuke something," I pause scrunching up my face thinking. "Oh, what was it?" I shrug after a second. "It'll come back to me, but then I started dwinking." I lean over to Kiba and hug him. "Now I'm here!"

                "Naruto." He sighed once more. He patted my shoulder and I let go. "Who is this person that you met?"   

                "Uh, well," I look at his ceiling fan getting distracted because it was going in circles.

                "Naruto."

                I snap out of it and look to Kiba again. "Yeah?"

                "Who did you meet today?"

                "Oh yeah! I don't know." I smile brightly and look around.

                "Ugh." Kiba lays back on his bed so I do the same.

                "But he looked like Sawsuke."

                "We can tell Kakashi and Iruka about it tomorrow." Kiba looked down to my arm since I was moving it in circles like the fan. He quickly grabbed my hand and sat up, making me sit up too. "What happened?"

                I look down confused. "What are you talking abowt, silly?"

                "This, Naruto!" He points to my wrist.

                "Oh, that." I grin. "I don't remember, but I think I did it though. Oh, and my hand, I remember stabbing myself. That really hurt." I start to swing my legs and look at Kiba happily, but I frown when I saw the sadness in his eyes. "What's wong Kiba?"

                "Why did you do that?" He tightened his grip on my hand.

                "I down't really remember, but hey Kiba, I'm starting to get tired." I yawn and hug him pulling him back to lay on the bed.

                "Okay, we can go to bed now." Kiba sadly smiled getting up and turning the light off. I crawled under the covers and Kiba did soon after. I turn onto my side and stare at Kiba lazily. He looked sad, so I did something without thinking. I kissed his cheek and cuddled up to him. His eyes snapped open and he looked at me completely shocked.

                "Naruto, you..." I open my eyes just enough to see him. I was having a hard time keeping them open.

                "Huh?"  

                "Uh ..." Kiba bites his lip looking away. "N-never mind."

                "But Kiiiibaaaa." I lazily protest.

                "Just ... go to sleep." We laid there for a long time and my mind started to clear.

                "Kiba, what's wrong with me?"

                He didn't answer for a minute. "Everyone has something wrong with them."

                "What's wrong with you?"

                "Well, I ... uhm ... c-can't think of anything right now, but I know I have something." He looks down to me and I frown and nod, He takes a deep breath and sighs. "I have a crush on someone that I shouldn't."

                I look up at him surprised. "But I thought you had a boyfriend."

                "I do, but I can't help but feel this way."

                "Can you tell me who it is?"

                "Well ... "

                "You don't have to, it's okay."

                We lay there for a long time and just as I was practically asleep, I swore I felt something on my forehead and something run through my hair, but I was to tired to think about what it was.

XXXXX

I wake up to a headache, just great. I blink a couple times and squint at the dark. Even thought there was very little light coming into the room, the light that was coming in was hurting my eyes. I slowly sit up and look around. There was a pile of clothes on the corner of the bed. I throw the covers off of me and swing my legs over the side. I stand up and grab the wall in front of me until the room stopped spinning. When it did stop, I changed into the clothes that Kiba was lending me and walk down into the kitchen.

                "Finally awake I see." Kiba's mother says smiling at me as she washes the dishes.

                "Yeah, thanks for letting me stay." I nervously laugh and scratched the back of my head.

                "Of course, you know that you're welcome here anytime."

                "Thank you, Ms. Inuzuka." I rub my eyes and try to remember last night. I don't even remember coming here.

                "Headache?" I look over to a grinning brunette that was shoving his phone in his pocket.

                "Yeah."

                "Want something to get rid of it?"

                "No, it's fine." Kiba stands up walking to the door. We put our shoes on and grab our bags.

                "We're leaving now." Kiba shouts to his mom.

                "Oh, wait a minute Kiba." Kiba's mother comes out from the kitchen with a brown paper bag. "Here's your lunch sweetie." She kisses his cheek and stands back.

                "Moooom, really." Kiba sighs opening the door letting me out and he followed after me.

                "Have a good day Kiba, Naruto." We wave back to his mom and walk to the school.

                "Hey Kiba."

                "Hmm?"

                "Do you know when I came over to your house last night?"

                "You don't remember?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

                "No. Did I do anything stupid?"

                "No, you came around ten I think, I don't really remember."

                "O-okay, uhm ... what did we talk about?"

                "Well ... you told me you met someone at the cemetery that resembled Sasuke. We were going to tell Kakashi and Iruka today. You also told me that you ... uhm ... were the one who stabbed your hand." My eyes go wide and I try not to stumble forward as we walked. I told him? Why? "I also know about the cuts on your arm." I reach across my chest and grab my wrist looking to the ground. "I don't know why you'd keep this a secret though. It's not like I'm going to get angry at you or something. We're friends after all, you should know that we are all here for you."

                "I know. I'm not looking for attention, I just ... I just needed a release of some sort, and that's what I thought of. I know it wasn't smart of me, but it's done and I can't take it back." I look up and back over to Kiba. "Please don't tell anyone."

                He fell silent for a little while before replying. "I promise."

XXXXX

                "I left my jacket in your car yesterday."

                "I know. I was going to give it back to you today, but I brought it inside my house and ... well ... kind of left it there." Kakashi smiled sheepishly making me sigh and look to my shoes. "You'll just have to come to my house after school today to pick it up."

                "I can't, my parents are already going to kill me for not going home last night. I don't want to-" I stop myself realizing what I had just said. "W-what I meant to say was-"

                "What do you mean you didn't go home last night?" Iruka cuts in.

                "I just ... well you see ... I ..." I shoot Kiba a distress signal.

                "He was at the cemetery late last night and it was cold and he didn't want to have to sleep with Kurama, so he came to my house." I mentally sigh with relief. That excuse was better than any of mine would have been.

                "Anywho so I'll go to your house with you after school." I smile and nervously move around in my seat.

                "Alright." Kakashi goes back to reading his book, but Iruka was eyeing me suspiciously. I shove my arm under the desk and onto my lap so Iruka's wandering eyes wouldn't end up where I didn't want them.

                "Here, you look cold." Kiba took his hoodie off and wrapped it around my shoulders. I look over at him confused, but then he winked at me and I understood what he was trying to do. I nodded and put the hoodie on the rest of the way. It smelled like him, it was surprisingly comforting. It's like he's always here with me.

                "Kakashi, Iruka. We have to ask you something." Kiba says getting their attention.

                "What is it?" Kakashi asked placing his book down from his face.

                "Well, Naruto-" I stop him. I had to be the one to tell this.

                "I saw someone who looked like Sasuke," Both their eyes widen and Kakashi puts his book down the rest of the way. "He come up and talked to me too. He knew my name. Do you know who he is?"

                "He didn't do anything to you, right?" Iruka asked on the edge of his seat.

                "Nothing terrible, I guess you could say that he hugged me, if you can call that a hug. He also lightly bit my ear, which I found to be really weird and I didn't see the significance in it whatsoever, but that's it."

                Kakashi grabbed Iruka's arm, forcing him to stay seated. "Did he have long black hair pulled into a low pony tail, and did he have marks on both sides of his cheeks near his nose?"

                "Uhm ... yeah, I think so."

                "If I'm right Naruto, that man you encountered yesterday was Sasuke's brother, Itachi Uchiha." My eyes widen and I grab Kiba's wrist tightly. He moved my grip to his hand and squeezed back. "I knew I should have stayed with you. What did he tell you?"

                "He wanted me to tell Sasuke something." The bell tings and I go to let go of Kiba's hand, but he just grabs tighter. "I'll tell you later." I get up and walk out of the door, still holding Kiba's hand.

                "Are you okay Naruto?"

                "Yeah, I'm fine now."

                "Okay."

                "I think ..." I pause making Kiba look at me puzzled. "I wasn't really expecting that. I mean, I guess I kind of was, but ..." I trail off and my eyes drop to the floor then up to Kiba's. "I think I might try talking to Itachi."

                "What?!" Kiba stopped and gripped my hand tighter. "Naruto, you can't be serious. Are you going alone? When are you going to talk to him? Where are you going to meet?"

                "Kiba, calm down, it was just a thought." Kiba pulls me close and hugs me tightly.

                "I can't lose you Naruto." He quietly whispered.

                "Kiba." I slowly wrap my arms around him and squeeze. "I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon." Kiba pulls back slightly, but we were still close enough to feel each others breath on our faces. I look at him and he smiled, letting me go.

                "We should probably go before we're late." The bell rang right after he said that. We look at each other and chuckle. "Too late."

XXXXX

                Go figure I had to be late yet again, only it's for Iruka's class this time. Shikamaru ran into me in the hall and talked to me for a minute. I walk into the class holding my books close. Everyone's eyes darted to me making me feel awkward.

                "So kind of you to join us." Iruka said looking up from his computer. I quickly made my way to my desk and took my seat. Iruka walks over and kneels down in front of my desk. "Why were you five minutes late, Naruto?" I could feel Sasuke looking out of the corner of his eye to us.

                "I had to talk to Shikamaru." I didn't look him in the eye, instead I decided to find my pencil extremely interesting. Iruka sighed standing up and sitting back at his desk again.

                "Why do you smell like a dog?"       

                "Huh?" I look up confused.

                "You smell like a dog."

                "Oh! It's probably the hoodie, I'm borrowing it from a friend. His dog is always around him so the smell just rubbed off."

                "Let me guess, Kiba Inuzuka?"

                "Yeah." I smile and look at his eyes. He looked a little upset about something. "Is something wrong?"

                "No." I look down to my desk then back to Sasuke when I remembered I had to tell him something. "Oh, I almost forgot. I ran into someone at the graveyard and they asked me to give you a message." Sasuke looked at me confused, furrowing his brows. "He told me to tell you to hurry up or you'll lose him before you can even get him, or something along those lines." Sasuke's eyes were wide and he was gripping his pencil so hard that I thought it was going to snap.

                "Who said this to you?" He asked through gritted teeth.

                "Uhm ... I-I don't know his name." We fell silent for the rest of the class. When the bell rang, I got up and Sasuke immediately grabbed my wrist, stopping me from leaving.

                "He didn't do anything to you, right?"

                "No, he just asked me to do that." I don't think telling him about the hug, especially since it seems to be a _very_ touchy subject. Sasuke lets go of me and looks away as he shoves his hands in his pockets.

                "Sorry about that."

                "About what?"

                "Grabbing you, freaking out."

                "It's fine." We both grab our books and walk out of the classroom.

                "Naruto."

                "Yeah?"

                "Be careful around him."

                "I will."

                "If you see him, just leave."

                I look to the ground and nod. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: R.I.P**

                Kakashi had to finish up some work before we could leave, but now we were in his car on our way to his house. We pulled up into his driveway and got out. We walked up to the house and Kakashi opened the door, letting me in. I move aside and take my shoes off, following Kakashi to the living room. There was music coming from upstairs, but I couldn't tell who it was.

                "Don't mind the hermit's music." Hermit? Does he mean Sasuke? "He barricades himself in his room as soon as he gets home, and he doesn't come out until dinner." Kakashi sighed looking around the room. He crosses his arms and looks back to the stairs. "I'll be right back." Kakashi runs up the stairs and I hear a knock on a door, the pause of music, the opening of a once sealed door, and a very irritable Uchiha.

                "What?"

                "You wouldn't have happened to see Naruto's jacket around, have you?"

                "No, the last time I saw it, it was on the couch." The door closes and Kakashi makes his way downstairs to me again, and into the kitchen, back into the living room and up the stairs, to his room I suppose, then back down the stairs with it in hand.

                "Found it. I have no idea why I put it in my room, but here you go." I gratefully take my jacket and smile.

                "Thanks Kakashi." I go back to the door and put my shoes on, going outside.

                "Do you want a ride home?"

                "No, thanks though. I have to make a stop on the way back anyway. And I want to clear my head before I get there." Kakashi nods waving to me as I leave.

                I smile as I walk down the sidewalks trying to find out how to get to Kiba's house. I'm smiling because for some reason, I was starting to feel happy again. I got my hoodie back, Sasuke and I are staring to become friends, Kurama and I are going to start taking more walks.

                I glance at the hoodie I was wearing. I was going to Kiba's because I wanted to return his hoodie that he let me borrow. I don't want to have to wait until tomorrow to give it back to him. In all honesty, I'm just using the hoodie as an excuse to not go home.

                I finally find his house and I walk up to it with the hoodie in my hands. I stop in front of the door and knock. It opens only a few seconds later, revealing Kiba's mother smiling brightly.

                "Naruto, Kiba is up in his room. Go on up." I smile my thanks and make my way to his room. His door was closed, so I decided to knock.

                "Kiba." Knock. "Kiba." I knock again. "Kiba." And again. "Ki-" The door swings open to a very confused Kiba now standing in it's place. I beam a smile at him, only making him more confused.

                "Naruto, uhm .. not that I don't want you here or anything, but ... why are you here?" I stretch out my arm and hand him the hoodie. He takes it arching a brow at me still confused.

                "I wanted to give it back to you. I forgot to do it at the end of school."

                "You know you could have waited until we were back in school tomorrow."

                "Well ... I didn't want to go home." I mess with my hands in front of me.

                "Well in that case, come on in." Kiba moved aside to allow me into his room. I smile again and plop down onto his bed. "You're really going to get into a lot of trouble when you do get home, ya know."

                "I know, I think that's what I'm trying to avoid the most."

                "You are welcome to stay here again if you like." Kiba sits himself next to me.

                "I would, but if I did then they would definitely kill me." I lean back on my hands and watch his fan go in circles.

                "Man, that sucks." Kiba looks back to me. "So I guess that means you can't stay long?"

                "Right." I straighten up looking him in the eyes. It seemed as though they were asking a question. He raised his brow at me.

                "Is there something on my face?"

                "No." I laugh. "I was just looking at your eyes." Kiba smiles and playfully pushes me.

                "Stupid."

                I grin and catch myself from falling. "I'm not the one who's failing math class, stupid." I push him.

                "Not fair! That teacher hates me!" He pushes me harder.

                "She doesn't hate you. Even if she did, she would only hate you because you either A) sleep in her class, or B) never do any of your work." I push him with more force making him fall off of the bed.

                "That's it!" Kiba shot up and tackled me. I started laughing as we wrestled on his bed. Eventually Kiba ended up pinning me to the bed since I was laughing so hard which restricted my fighting abilities greatly.

                I stop my laughing and look up to him. Neither of us moved, or made any indication that we were planning on moving. We just sit there looking into the other's eyes.

                "I should probably go." I whisper as if I was talking to myself.

                "Right." Kiba sighed sliding off of me. I stand up and walk to his door. "Naruto, wait." I heard Kiba right behind me so I turned around. He grabbed my shoulders pulling me closer, and kissed me. My eyes shot open to the size of baseballs, but they slowly closed and I started to kiss back. He pushed me against the door and we both stop.

                "Kiba, we can't."

                "What do you mean?" He back up a little.

                "You have a boyfriend." Kiba looked to the ground backing up. His face scrunched up in what looked like a snarl, but it soon went back to normal. I don't think those two are doing too hot.

                "Sorry, I just got carried away I guess."

                "It's okay." I smile and look at my hands. "I take it that, that person you had a crush on ... was me?"

                Kiba didn't reply for a minute, probably thinking about what he should say. "Yeah." He met my eyes. "I just didn't want to tell you because I didn't want anything to change between us."

                I smile at him. "It doesn't change anything between us, I promise." He looks up slightly smiling. I stand there looking at him, then I cast my gaze down to my feet.

                "You should probably go, don't want you to get in even more trouble than you already are."

                "Yeah." I whisper leaving his room and going to the door to leave. I put on my shoes and walk out the door. I look back to see Kiba leaning on the doorframe smiling. He waved and backed up closing the door. I felt a little bad about everything that just happened, but I think I did the right thing. I definitely wasn't expecting that to happen though. I just wanted to give him his hoodie back.

                As I walk closer and closer to my house, the slower my pace got. I was soon standing in front of the door, but I couldn't bring myself to open it.

                I wonder if they fed Kurama while I was gone. I'll make sure to apologize to him tonight. After all, he's been through this all with me.

                I take a deep breath and open the door stepping inside.

                "What the hell are you doing here?" My mom scowled crossing her arms across her chest.

                "I kind of live here." I look over and see my father stand up with a stern glare. He quickly makes his way over to me and when he was a foot away, he punched me in the side of the head, sending me back into the door. I was expecting that.

                "How dare you do this!" He picked me up by my collar. I wince and grab his wrist. "You think you can just do whatever the hell you want?!"

                "I-I didn't mean to-"

                "Shut up!" He punched me in the stomach after letting go of my collar. I drop to my knees holding where he slammed his fist into my gut. I can't do this anymore.

                "I would have come home ... if I didn't live here." I said in a quiet growl.

                "What did you say brat?" I stood up still holding my arms across my stomach and glaring.

                "I _said_ that I would have come home if I didn't live here!" I saw him tighten his fists making me tense, but when he didn't move I decided to push my luck and continue. "You're terrible parents. No parents should beat their kids! And you beat me over the stupidest of things! I always wondered if you just use those outrageous rules as an excuse to beat me. You made them all well knowing that I would break them, so you use them as an excuse to take out your anger on me. I don't deserve this torture you put me through! I did absolutely nothing to deserve it! No one would want to come home to this! To a fear of possibly getting beat so badly you can barely sit normally!" I saw the anger in my mother's face lighten, but only a little bit. My father on the other hand was fuming. If he was a volcano, he probably would have erupt by now.

                "How _dare_ you talk to us like that!" He said with venom practically dripping from his words.

                Prepare for the beating of a lifetime, Naruto.

                He pulled back his balled fist and threw the punch at me making me tightly close my eyes. After a few seconds of not feeling like screaming in agony, I slowly opened one eye and looked to see what had happened. I blinked a couple times, bewildered at what this was. My mom was holding into his arm, preventing him from hitting me.

                "We've done enough today, let him be." He looks to me mom with a death glare. "With Kurama and what just happened, I think it's a good enough punishment." Kurama? What about him?

                "What have you done with Kurama?" I felt my heart drop to my stomach in fear. My parents wouldn't have given him away, would they? They look over to me.

                "We did nothing. You did it. When you didn't come home that night, he went to go look for you since you always go see him at a certain time." My dad said with a hint of a triumphant smirk hidden on his face. My eyes start to widen. "You, Naruto, killed him."

                "No, that's not true." I back up. "You're lying!" I sprint out the back door. "Kurama! Kurama!?" When he wasn't there I started to panic. "Kurama!?" I look down and see his collar on his bed, this picture makes me drop to my knees in shock. I grab the collar with trembling hands. I look at the tags, and in an instant, I felt the wave of suppressed tears cascading down my cheeks. I close my eyes tightly clenching my jaw as I bring the collar to my chest. I lean over my knees, forming myself into a tightly compact ball.

                This can't be happening! This has to me some horrible nightmare. Kurama didn't ...

                I sat there until I stopped my sobbing. I weakly stood up walking inside and to the bathroom. I close and lock the door behind me. I hold myself up on the sink and glare into the mirror.

                You killed him.

                "No."

                Just because you were an idiot.

                "I didn't-"

                You deserve everything that your parents do to you.

                "I-"

                He trusted you.

                "He-"

                Loved you.

                "I kn-"

                You were his _only_ friend.

                "Stop..."

                You led him to his death.

                "Please..."

                You knew he'd come find you.

                "No I didn't, please ... st-"

                You don't deserve his love!

                "... I didn't know this was going to happen."

                But you know you were still the one who killed him.

                "...yeah." I look myself in the mirror for a second before glaring. " really am stupid."

                And pathetic, don't forget pathetic.

                I have to stop this. These thoughts. Everything. I just...

                I snap my eyes over to the razor. I can't. I shouldn't, but...

                I reach over and grab the razor putting it to my wrist and quickly sliding it across. I look down after a minute to see my arm covered in blood. I suddenly felt myself become nauseous and dizzy. That's when I blacked out.

XXXXX

                "Naruto? Naruto, are you okay in there? You've been in there for over an hour now. When you're done, can I talk to you? I'll be in the living room." I hear the patter of footsteps leaving.

                Did I pass out? I open my eyes, squinting at the light. I sit up holding my head. I glance down and see blood. My blood to be exact. I lost way to much blood.

                That's when what my mom said hit me. She wants to talk? Over an hour. Wait, was she actually worried about me?

                I grab the corner of the sink and pull myself up. My knees give out almost immediately, so I catch myself on the sink. Shit. I'm so dizzy right now. I look back to the ground where I was passed out. I have to clean that up. Double shit. I open the closet and grab a black towel, wiping it up as best as possible, which wasn't very good. I could have done better if I didn't feel like I was about to pass out again. I pull myself up again and look into the mirror. Triple shit. I look like I'm a ghost. My usual tan skin was even more pale than Sasuke's right now.

                I take a couple deep breaths with my eyes closed to see if it would help any. It didn't. If fact, I kind of felt worse. Okay. I take one last breath and sigh deeply as I open my eyes. I will not pass out.

                I wash my blood and open the door. I walk to my room putting a new jacket on then heading down to the living room. I almost fell on my way down the stairs though. My mom was sitting on the chair not doing anything in particular. I guess I should say something.

                "You, uh ... wanted to talk?" HE head snaps up almost immediately.

                "Naruto." She said in a worried whisper. I must not have looked too good. I was leaning on the wall practically out of breath, pale, holding my throbbing arm, and my voice sounded a little odd. "What happened?" She stood up and walked towards me, but I back up almost falling from the lack of support from the wall.

                "Don't start to pretend like you care about me." I growled making her frown.

                "That's exactly what I wanted to talk about. Naruto, please sit down. You don't look well."

                "No." I know I look like a train wreck right now, don't remind me.

                "Then I'll make this as quick as possible so you can go rest." She pauses for a second to gather her thoughts. "You deserve an apology. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being how I was and for anything that I've done. I know an apology isn't worth much, but I hope that we can start over again. From scratch. I know you won't ever be able to fully forgive me, and you'll never forget what I've done to you. But I'm hoping that you'll try to find it within yourself to try and forgive me. I'm not asking for you to love me like a real mother anytime soon, or at all really, but I want you to be able to come to me as if I'm a friend." She stops and I cast my gaze to the ground. "Please just think about it, Naruto."

                I really want to forgive her with my whole being, but part of me is telling me not to. It's telling me to think about this. It doesn't make any sense. It could be some kind of joke. And if I think about it, the less sense it makes and the more confused I get.

                "I'm not going to forgive you..." She frowned. "anytime soon, but ... I'm willing ... to ..." I stumble back into the wall. A sudden wave of dizziness hit me like a frat train, and I felt as if I was going to throw up.

                "Naruto?!" She comes up to me grabbing my shoulders to keep me up.

                "I feel ... really ... dizzy."

                "Let's get you to your room so you can rest."

                "Yeah..." I take a step forward and black out again.

XXXXX

                The room was dark so I couldn't see very well. I felt around to find that I was in my bed. I reach over to my desk and turn my little lamp on. Beside the lamp was a glass of orange juice, a doughnut, and a letter. I grab the paper and read it.

_I had the neighbor come over and take a_

_look at you to make sure you were okay._

_He told me that you just had a lot of blood_

_loss and to have you eat something with sugar_

_in it. I don't know how you lost so much blood,_

_but please eat the food I've put next to you on_

_your desk when you wake up._

                I set the paper back down and grab the doughnut taking a bite. After I finish it, I drink the orange juice. I sit there for a minute until I started to feel slightly better. I throw my covers off and stand up timidly. I grab the cup and make my way downstairs to the kitchen to put the cup in the dishwasher. I glance to the clock and sigh. It's only five in the morning. That means my dad should be leaving soon.

                I walk up into my room. I sit down in the middle of my bed and close my eyes. I wasn't tired anymore, so I couldn't go back to sleep. So now my options were sit and do nothing, or sit and be bored while doing nothing. I chose to do nothing in the most boring way I possibly could, which wasn't very hard to be honest.

                I didn't really feel like thinking about anything right now since my head still slightly hurt, but I couldn't help but just randomly start to think. I sigh and lay back. Should I tell Kiba about how I cut again? He'd probably get sad, but I think that he should know. I mean, he is my closest friend.

                Should I tell him about Kurama? And how my mom is losing her marbles? I'm seriously scared by her sudden desire to be nice to me. Was it because I finally snapped and yelled back about how I felt? It only took me two years.

                A random thought came to me just now. I need to talk to Itachi. I need answers about my parents. I know he is a murderer, but he shouldn't do anything in a public place, right? Wait, today was Saturday. Maybe I could go find him. He shouldn't be too hard to find, right? I guess I'll find out.

                I quickly turned the paper over that my mom used for her note to me to write where I was going. I finished my note and left. It was starting to get brighter every minute that passed. I decided to just walk around until it turned light out.

                When the time struck noon, I began my serious search for Itachi. I wasn't messing around as much as I was this morning.

                Well, I've been searching for four hours since noon and I can honestly say that I'm thinking about giving up. This is so much harder than I thought it would be. He has to be here somewhere, ya know.

                I sigh and sit on a bench heavily. My foot were finally starting to feel a slight pain from being on them all day and my arm was starting to sting. I didn't clean it very well yesterday. I roll my sleeve up and run my fingers over the cuts wincing slightly as I ran over one on my wrist. It was pretty deep. I glance over my arm and sigh. So I'm an idiot, I know. I did it worse this time. I lean back onto the back of the bench and sigh closing my eyes as I stretch out my legs.

                "I'm so done."

                "What are you done about?"

                "I can't find-" I merely said what I wanted to say to myself, out loud by accident. I definitely wasn't expecting a reply from someone else, so when it finally registered that someone was near me and talking to me, my eyes shot open and I sat up abruptly.

                "Can't find?"

                "Sasuke?"

                "You were looking for me?"

                "Well ... uh ... not really ... I was ... uhm ... surprised to see you is all."

                "Oh, then what were you looking for?"          

                "Oh, that. It's not important anymore. Why are you out here?" I stand up and roll my sleeve down.

                "Kakashi is making me go on a grocery run. He said it would do me some good to get out of my room every once in a while." Sasuke started to walk so I followed.

                "You two don't really seem to get along, do you?"     

                "We only talk when we have to, or when Kakashi starts a conversation."

                "Why don't you like him?"

                "It's not that I don't like him. I just don't see the point to unimportant chatter." We both stop talking for a while until I start to find the silence a bit uncomfortable.

                "So what are you supposed to be getting?"

                "Chicken and some seasonings." Sasuke and I walk into a grocery store and go around getting the food on the list. He pays for it and we leave. On the way back we were talking, well it was mostly me doing to the talking, but I made Sasuke laugh from time to time. Near the end of the walk I got Sasuke to start to talk. When we got to his house we stopped.

                "I'll see you in school then." I say turning to leave.

                "Naruto," I turn and face him. "do you want to have dinner with us?"

                I was a little more than surprised, but I smiled brightly and nodded. We walked up to the house and walked in. Sasuke went into the kitchen and I followed close behind. He set the things on the counter next to Kakashi.

                "Naruto is having dinner with us." Kakashi looked back surprised, but he then smiled. Sasuke nodded for me to follow as he passed me. We go upstairs to his room. "He'll call us down when it's done." I look around at my surroundings. It was a pretty dark room. The curtains were closed and black, so they blocked out any light. Sasuke turned on his light so we could see. "You like video games?"

                "I don't know, I've never played them before." I sit down on the bed next to Sasuke.

                "I guess we'll find out if you like them or not." Sasuke stands up and sets up his gaming system. He came back giving me a controller and sat back down.

                He explained how to play the game and what button did what. I was a bit puzzled at first and I died, a lot, but I was gradually getting better at it the longer we played. If it wasn't for Sasuke being on my team and helping me, I probably would have died a whole lot more than I did. After a while of that one game, Sasuke switched it to a different one. We were on out own team. I died a lot. Mostly because Sasuke was the one that kept killing me, but form him killing me so much, it only made my blood pump more making me try harder to kill him.

                After my rampage in the game, I finally managed to kill Sasuke. I was so proud. I had to get up and do a little dance.

                "You were just lucky."

                "Yeah, but I finally killed you, even if luck had everything to do with it. I still did it! I killed you!" I stopped dancing and put my hands on my hips with a smirk playfully on my lips.

                "You're such a dobe." Sasuke chuckled slightly. There was a gunfire behind me, so I turned around quickly.

                "Aww man! I got killed again!"

                "That's what you get for going a victory dance and getting distracted."

                "Boys! Dinner!" I smile and look at Sasuke. He gets out of the game and stands up.

                "Let's go." We walk down into the kitchen grabbing our plates and sitting at a table. We started eating once everyone was seated.

                "I'm going over to Iruka's after dinner."

                "Okay."

                Kakashi looks to me. "You seem a little different, everything okay?"

                "Huh? Oh, me? Well, yeah I'm okay." I look down at my food and continue eating. After a few moments I said something again. "My mom ..." I glanced up to see Kakashi give me his full attention. "she's being different."

                "Different How?"

                "Well I kind of snapped at them and she started to act nicer after that. It really is making me kind of confused.

                "You ..." I could hear a slight disbelief in Kakashi's voice. "You actually did it? What did they do?"

                "Well ... uh ... my dad wasn't too pleased with it, but my mom stopped him from ... uhm ... doing anything rash."

                "So that's all it took?"

                "I guess so." I glanced to Sasuke and noticed that he was listening. Even though his expression didn't show interest, I know he was.

                "Well I'm proud of you Naruto. That must have been really stressful on you. I'm sure Iruka will be proud of you as well. Do you want me to tell him tonight?"

                "Yeah, I'd appreciate it."

                "Alright." Kakashi smiled standing up and ruffling my hair on his way out. "I'll see you later Sasuke, Naruto."

                Sasuke waits for Kakashi to leave before speaking. "I take it your parents aren't the most likable of people." He stood up and I followed him putting our dishes in the dishwasher.

                "I should probably leave, you know, before my dad kills me." I smile looking back to Sasuke. He slightly frowns but nods. We go to the door and I put my shoes on. I take a few steps outside and stop to say something, but Sasuke beat me to it.

                "There's a party tomorrow at one of my friends house. You should come." I look over my shoulder a little shocked. "If you want to of course. You can just come here around seven thirty."

                "You really want me to come? Won't you be picked on for bringing _me_ to a party?"

                "No one would dare pick on me. If you come, you won't regret it." I look at him a little warily. "I promise."

                "Okay."

                "Okay you're going?"

                "Yeah."

                "Great, see you tomorrow then." Sasuke waves and I nervously smile and wave as I head home.

                When I get home, I quickly run up the stairs and face plant on my bed as I heave a big sigh. What am I thinking? I can't go to a party. There are going to be people there that probably hate my guts. And plus I have nothing to wear.

                There was a pain in my left arm that caught my attention from my thoughts. I straighten myself and roll up my sleeve. The cuts looked red and irritated from rubbing up against the fabric of my jacket all day. I shrug my jacket off and go to the bathroom. I wet a washcloth and wipe it over my arm to get rid of any blood that reappeared. The coolness felt kind of good since my arm felt so hot right now. I carefully treated my arm the rest of the way and sighed.

                "I won't ever do that again."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Truth**

I seriously have nothing to wear. I look around my room at the mess of clothes I had all over my floor and bed, Even though it's only ten, I'm already picking out clothes. I rub my face and fall back onto my bed.

                "Ugh." I hear my door open so I quickly jump up not really knowing what to expect. The door slowly opens and reveals my mom. I force myself to stop tensing. I know I said I'd give her a chance and I know that it's only been a day since our talk, but this is going to be a lot harder than I anticipated.

                "Is something wrong, Naruto? You look a little stressed." She looks at all of my clothes sprawled across my room. She glances up at me before looking back down to step over all my clothes to get to me. I sigh sitting back down. I don't know, should I tell her? I probably should. It would only help build a better relationship.

                "I don't have any cool clothes to wear for a party that I was invited to tonight." My mom moves some clothes to sit next to me.

                "I could try and help. I may not look it, but I can pick out good outfits." She smiled and looked around again.

                "Thanks for the offer, but you don't seem like you'd know how to dress for a teenagers party." She sits up straight crossing her arms across her chest with a smirk forming on her face. She stands up looking at me wit confidence and determination in her eyes.

                "Tell me what these people are like and I bet you that I can come up with something that'll blow their socks off." I arch a brow when I look at her. I then close my eyes and smile.

                "Fine. They are the type of people who are popular but rude. They are dark, theoretically I guess. Not too nice. They probably go out a lot to have fun. Lastly, they probably aren't the best of role models."

                "That should be easy enough." She walks over to my door looking back. "I'll be right back."

                A few minutes later, she comes back with something in her hand. She grabs one of my few black shirts up off of the floor as she walks over to me and puts the stuff on my bed. She ushers me up and se grabs my shoulders looking me over real quick before going into my closet and scavenging for something. After she finds what she was looking for, she comes back over to me.

                "Take your shirt off and put this one on." I take off my shirt and put on the black one that she handed me. "Now your pants." I was a little more hesitant with this one, but I still do it. I then ship on the only pair of black ripped jeans that I own. I never wore them because before my parents probably would have taken them. She then grabs a black belt with spike like studs on it and put it on me. After that she grabs a bracelet and holds out her hand. I hold out my right wrist and she put a spiked bracelet on me. She backed up and pursed her lips to the side judging whether or not she needs to make any adjustments.

                "It's a lot of black." I say looking down at myself. Although, I guess Sasuke normally wears all black a lot of the time.

                "You're right, put this on." She handed me a dark crimson colored shirt that had some kind of design on it and I put it on. She smiles in approval. "Better." She then grabbed a necklace and held it up. "This necklace means a lot to me." She looks at me. "I want you to keep it. My eyes widen slightly.

                "I can't."

                "Think of it as a present for all of your birthdays that I've missed." I wait for a minute thinking about taking the gift. It was an emerald looking stone with a little silver ball on both sides of it. I nod and she smiles latching the necklace onto me. "Now all you need are some shoes."

                "I know where I can get some of those."

                She looks up to me with a raised eyebrow. "Where?"

                "One of my friends, so do you think that I could go get them now?" She thinks about it for a minute before nodding.

                "Okay."

                I quickly walk to my door and stop. "I'll clean this up tonight. And thanks for the help." I run out the door and down the street. When my house was out of view, I start to walk. I hope Kiba's home. If he's not I guess I could always ask Shikamaru. I wonder how Shikamaru is doing, I haven't heard from him recently. He seemed to be busy.

                I walk up to Kiba's door and just as I was about to knock, the door swung open. I stand there frozen with my hand still in mid knocking position as Kiba looks me over. That's when it hit me, I didn't have my jacket. I tried not to do anything to suspicious as I hid my arm.

                "Hey Kiba." I shove both of my hands in my back pockets and nervously laughed.

                "Hey, what brings you here? Not to mention that you look really ..." I shifted my weight from foot to foot a little nervous. "good."

                "Well, I was actually going to ask you if I could borrow some shoes." Kiba stood there for a little while longer, still a little shocked by my sudden clothing change.

                "Huh? Oh! Of course. I'll get you some, wait here." Kiba runs off leaving me to look around at the outdoors. I wonder where Kiba's going. "Here." I snap my gaze back to Kiba who was holding a pair of black and white shoes. I smile taking them.

                "Thanks. Can I leave my shoes here and get them later?"

                "Yeah that's fine." I take my shoes off placing them inside as I slip on Kiba's shoes. There was a gust of wind that was surprisingly cold. It is getting close to winter I guess.

                "Where are you off to?" I walk down the sidewalk with him.

                "I'm going to Shikamaru's, he said he needs some help with something." He looks at me. "What about you? It's not every day that we get to see you like this."

                "Oh me? I'm going to Sasuke's later."

                I saw Kiba smile from the corner of my eyes. If I didn't know Kiba I would think that was a real smile, but I could tell it was forced. There was another cold gust of wind. I tried to suppress a shudder, but I failed. I, all of a sudden, felt something warm drape over my shoulders. I look over and see that Kiba gave me his hoodie once more. I smile at him and grab the hoodie to pull it tightly around myself before I slip my arms into the sleeves.

                "Kiba."

                "Yeah."

                "I want to tell you something." Kiba's movements stalled for a moment before continuing. He must have been a little shocked by the seriousness in my voice.

                "What is it?"

                "This isn't going to be easy for me ... to speak out loud." I was already choking back tears just thinking about it. Kiba was now staring at me. "I had to tell you that I ... I killed ... I ..." I drop my head to the ground. That's when Kiba grabbed my shoulders making us stop walking, but I didn't look up.

                "Killed?" I felt my chest tighten as I took a deep breath, it was starting to get hard to breath. Maybe it was just too soon to talk about this. The backs of my eyes started to sting from holding back tears. I clenched my jaw and looked up with a new found determination. I would not be weak.

                "Kurama." I said his name weakly.

                Kiba's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

                "It was my fault that he died." I drop my eyes to my borrowed shoes.

                "Naruto, you're not making and sense."

                "The night that I came to your house drunk and spent the night. Kurama ... he tried to find me because I never came home that night. He got his by a car ... all because of me. He died because of my stupid decisions." I look up at Kiba with tears about to fall from my eyes. I don't want him to hug me, if he hugs me then I'll lose it. I don't want to cry over this again. I take another deep breath to finish what I was saying. "I killed him, Kiba. He ... he ... he didn't deserve any of this."

                All of a sudden the tears escaped my eyes and the grip on my shoulders left, only to be replaced by strong arms pulling me close. Kiba runs a hand up to the back of my head and the other near the bottom of my back. I wrap my arms around him, grabbing his shirt tightly as I burry my face into his shoulder. Kiba slowly moved us out of the open to next to a tree.

                "This was not your fault Naruto. Don't blame yourself for this." He whispers this into my ear. "You don't know what Kurama was thinking about at the moment. He could have been chasing something, or maybe he was just trying to run around. You never can tell if you weren't there." Kiba was rubbing my back which was surprisingly relaxing.

                Neither of us spoke after that. Actually we just stood there as Kiba continued to rub my back. It could almost put me to sleep, in fact, it practically did and that's why I slowly moved myself away. Kiba's hand swept over my tear stained cheeks to wipe away any lingering tears. He then genuinely smiled at me.

               "You feel better?" After he asked that question, my chest clenched and my heartbeat quickened. I don't know what this feeling is, but I don't like it. I feel kind of nervous to top off my weird feeling, but overall I did feel better now that I told him about what happened.

                "Y-yeah. Thanks Kiba. I-I didn't mean for any of that to happen."

                "It's fine Naruto, I want to be able to help you in any way I can." I smile but my smile drops when I remember something.

                "Kiba, I should probably tell you this too." His smile quickly fades. "I kind of cut again when that whole incident happened. I was just so overwhelmed and I wasn't thinking right."

                "How bad?"

                "I lost too much blood and fainted a couple of times, but I'm fine now."

                "You fainted?" I keep looking down at my feet. I was ashamed that I kept doing that and I didn't want to meet his eyes, but I take a breath and look up to Kiba who looked like he was about to say something but I beat him to it.

                "You don't have to worry, I'm not going to do it again."

                "You don't know that."

                "I'm promising myself I'm not going to do it anymore."

                "What if you get too overwhelmed again and you aren't thinking right?"

                "I'll figure something out."

                "Naruto, I'm just scared about losing you. What if ... what if one day you accidentally cut a little too deeply? You could die. I don't want to lose you."

                I never really thought about that. What if I actually did cut too deep on accident one time and I die because of it? It's not something you can just undo. Death is a permanent thing, whether you like it or not. But that is just another reason why I promised I wouldn't do it again. As I was lost in thought, Kiba grabbed my hand. I looked up to him and he looked at me with comforting eyes. That's when my stomach did a little flip and my face got a little warmer than usual.

                "Shall we go?" I nod as we walk down the street. When we get to Shikamaru's, Kiba turns to me. "I don't have to go, I can always tell him I'll help him later if you want."

                "No, go help Shikamaru. He's seemed stressed lately. Thanks for all the concern, but I'll be fine." I smile to him that I'm really okay. If I honestly wasn't okay then I'd tell him. He hesitates before accepting the fact that I wasn't going to let him bale on Shikamaru.

                "Alright, I'll see you on Monday then." With a wave, we went our separate ways.

                I decided not to go home just yet. I wanted to take a walk to calm my nerves before I went to Sasuke's. With the whole Kurama deal swirling around my thoughts and there was also something new that I never really felt before. That whole feeling that I had when I was holding Kiba's hand not to long ago. What was with that? I think I've had that feeling once before actually, but it was when I had ramen for the first time. Even then it was more like a warm happy sensation, not quite like the one I felt today. I must say though, that was the best darn ramen I've ever had for sure.

                But that doesn't really explain the whole thing with Kiba. If I got that feeling for the food I love, does that mean that I love Kiba? Well of course I love Kiba, so that's not it. Is it because we're getting closer recently? Maybe.

                As I was lost in thought, there was something that caught my eye that snapped me back to reality. There was a tall man with a very familiar body structure. They were bent over at the moment, so I couldn't see their whole body, but when they straightened I could feel my heartbeat quicken. The long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Itachi. I start to walk to him without thinking, but he turns and leaves making me speed up slightly. I'll just follow him until he stops. I'm curious to where he is going.

                He took a lot of twists and turns which made following him incredibly hard, not to mention all the people in the way. I saw him take a sharp turn into an alleyway, so I stop and cautiously walk in front of the entrance. I didn't see him in there, granted it was practically pitch black in there.

                I bite my lip and clench my fists. I still never got over my fear of going into dark suspicious places alone, and I don't really want to get over them, for good reason too.

                I take a few cautious steps in and then pause. A few more and another pause. I then decide to go the rest of the way. Well, I would have if my heart hadn't decided to stop right then, but guess it had good reason.

                I was pushed back against a wall with great force. Why did I do this? Oh shit, why did I have to follow the crazy man into a dark creepy alley? Not the smartest thing you've ever done Naruto. You stupid idiot. Do you have a death with or something?

                "Why were you following me?" A deep, and very angry, voice sounded only inches away from me.

                "I-I ... well I just wanted to ... uhm ... talk to you." I frowned myself to breath as steadily as I possibly could.

                "About?"

                "Uhm ... well ... my ... uh ... parents." The grip on me loosened.

                "Your parents? Wait, Naruto."

                "U-uh ... y-yes?"

                "Damnit." He cursed under his breath. "I'm really sorry, I didn't get a good look at you from the distance. Not to mention that you looked different. Here, come with me and we can talk somewhere better than the place."

                I hesitantly follow him out into the fading daylight. He takes me to a cafe and buys me a drink. We sat at one of the tables outside and I sipped at my hot chocolate awkwardly as Itachi looked me over. He was leaning back in his chair with his coffee mug against his lips. Finally mustering up the courage to speak I set my cup down.

                "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you or anything, really. I just ... I wanted to talk to you for a couple days recently and I haven't seen you. Then out of the middle of nowhere you appeared and I didn't know how to approach you so I kind of resorted to ... following you. Which I apologize for." Itachi didn't speak for a minute, but when he put his mug down it revealed a very amused smile. What could possibly be so funny? "Did I say something funny?" I ask confused.

                "No, but it's amusing to see you like this." I grab my drink again taking a sip. We sat there drinking in silence for a little while. The sun was going to be going behind the mountains soon, so I won't be able to stay for much longer. "You said you wanted to talk about your parents?" I look up from my cup and nod. "What do you want to know?"

                "I know they were murdered." Itachi stiffened. "And their murderer ... it was you ... wasn't it?" Itachi's face turned from amused to sickened in a matter of seconds. He actually looked like he was in pain. What's that look for? He sat there thinking for quite a while before he even made a hint that he was going to talk.

                "...yeah..." He said this quietly as he closes his eyes and takes a drink of his coffee.

                I take a breath to calm myself. "Why?" I clench my fists under the table.

                "You wouldn't understand."

                "We'll never know if you don't try and tell me." Itachi contemplated telling me and heaved a heavy sigh.

                "Alright, but I'm only telling you this once so listen closely." I nod and put my cup down to give him my full attention. "I'm also not going into great detail, I'm just going to cover the stuff that concerns you."

He pauses thinking about what to say. "It was around 16 years ago. I was in a group that I shouldn't have been involved with. Even though I saw what they did, I never did anything to stop it. One day I was called upon by the leader. He somehow heard that I was going to leave the organization and he didn't like that, so he gave me a choice. To kill the people that threatened them, or they'd kill my brother. I held my brother very dear to me, so the choice was obvious. And they knew what I'd choose, so they used my wish to leave to their advantage. I tried to think of ways around it, but it was no use. Your parents weren't concerned about themselves, they were only concerned about what would happen to their newborn child, you. They obviously didn't go willingly, and I regret saying this but I had to be hostile about it. Your parents and I finally agreed on something after fighting for a long time, and they knew that winning wasn't a very good chance for them now. They'd give themselves as long as I didn't harm you from then on out. They told me to help watch the group I was with too, and if they were to come after you then I was to protect you. I am sorry that it had to turn out like that, but it had to. They also wanted me to warn you when you were old enough, they told me to tell you to avoid the Akatsuki. They were the organization that I was with that had me kill your parents."        

                I didn't know what to say, even if I fought with him about it, it wouldn't do any good. My parents were already killed and there wasn't anything I could do to bring them back. I was looking at my drink with a scowl. I tap my glass with my finger causing the liquid to ripple into the center of the cup.

                "What day was it?" I said quietly.

                "October 12."

                We sat there yet again in a silence, but this silence wasn't like the others were. I don't know why, but it felt strange. All of a sudden, my thoughts drifted to Itachi and Sasuke. They're brothers, and Itachi said he held his brother dear to him. But Sasuke never even mentions his older brother. Does Sasuke hate Itachi, or does he just not like him as much as Itachi had? Wait, he said he held his brother dear to him, as in past tense. Does that mean something, or was it just a slip of the tongue? Maybe I was just reading too much into it.

                "You said that you held your brother very dear to you." I look up to him making eye contact. "Did something happen between you two? Sasuke doesn't seem to be very fond of you." Itachi closed his eyes as a slight breeze blows past us.

                "It wasn't always like that." I wait to see if he was going to continue. While I waited I finished my drink and I put it on the table in front of me. "Sasuke is a very complex person. I used to be the only one who understood him. He would always try and bother me, but I actually liked the fact that he would always do that. He wanted to go everywhere with me. He liked me until he found out about what I did." Itachi drank the rest of his coffee and stood up. I stood as well and walked next to Itachi down the sidewalk. "Why do you seem so dressed ... not like you?" Itachi asked, changing the topic as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

                "Sasuke invited me to a party tonight."

                "Oh really?" Itachi smirked glancing at me for a second.

                "Yeah, I have to be at his house at seven thirty." Itachi glanced down at his wrist to his watch.

                "Fifteen minutes." He smiled looking at me. "I'd be careful if I were you, Sasuke has a thing for tan blonds." I felt my face grow hot and my eyes widen. I quickly look down at my hands. He's gay?

                "He's ... uhm ..."

                "Gay? Not completely. He's bisexual. Well he was the last time I knew, he might be straight for all I know anymore."

                "Has he ever liked a guy before?" He looked at me with an amused smirk. I quickly look away. "N-not that I'm interested or anything. I'm just ... curious."

                "Are you gay?"

                "...uhm..."

                "So you like my brother?"

                "N-no! It's not like that. He seems nice and he's a good friend but ... I ... uh ..."

                "So you don't find him even the slightest bit attractive?"

                "No! Wait I mean yes. No wait ... ugh ... I mean ... he is really attractive and all, but I don't necessarily ... well ... like him like that I guess."

                "Yet."

                "Yeah." I heard a snicker and I looked over. Oh wait. "No, no, no, no, no that's not ... I was lost in thought and I just-"

               "It's okay." Itachi was chuckling as he looked over to me. "I'm only teasing." I heave a huge sigh and force myself to calm down. "But can I ask you this?" I look over still a little flustered. "Do you have any feelings for him? Feelings more than friendship. Even if it is just a little bit?" I look to the ground. Do I?

               "I really don't know. I really like his looks, but honestly, who doesn't. Anyway, the looks are just the icing on the cake so to speak. If I really liked him as much as I liked Kiba, he would have a good ..." I stop when I realize what I had just said. As much as I like Kiba? Why did he come to mind when we were talking about liking someone romantically? Yeah I know I like him in a friend way, but ...

                "Kiba?"

                "Uh ... well."

                "Are you dating him?"

                "No! I just ... I don't know anymore."

                "You like him?"

                "Not any more than a friend, I think. I don't know, maybe."

                "This Kiba, his last name is Inuzuka, right?" I nod. "How do you feel when you're around him?"

                "I guess I fell happy, I feel really safe too, and I don't have to hold anything back from him, it's really comforting."

                "I see. I'm afraid that you're in the beginning stages of a crush, Naruto."

                "Wha-? But we're best friends."

                "You can't help who you like. It just happens." We stop walking and I turn to face him. "I can't go any further with you, I have to go in there." I nod and turn to leave. "But Naruto. Give Sasuke this message." He waited for me to look to him. I turn, ready for the message. "Competition." Itachi turns opening a door and steps in.

                "Wait, is that it?" He pokes his head back out smiling.

                "Sure is. Have a good night kiddo." He disappears back inside closing the door. I look in the window and see a blond male run up and hug Itachi. I shrug and leave. He acted a lot differently than the first time we met.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Run For It**

               I walk up to Sasuke's door and knock. I wait for a minute and the door glides open. Kakashi was standing in the now open space.

                "Naruto, Sasuke was asking about you."

                "What time is it?" I step inside and Kakashi closes the door behind me.

                "Around 7:45." Crap. "He's in his room by the way."

                "Thanks Kakashi." I sprint up the stairs and knock on the door. I heard quick steps on the other side of the door and soon after, Sasuke was standing in front of me. "Sorry about being late." I nervously laugh and scratch the back of my head.

                "I was starting to think you bailed on me." Sasuke smirked and crossed he arms as he leaned on the doorframe.

                "I wouldn't do that." I laugh and Sasuke leans closer to me furrowing his brows. I slightly lean back confused. "Uh ... Sasuke?"

                "That's dog boy's hoodie, isn't it."

                "Uh, yeah. I got a little cold before I came here so he gave it to me."

                "Why don't you wear one of mine so you don't reek of dog stench."

                "Uh ... o-okay." I slid off the hoodie and hold it in my arms while Sasuke retrieves a new one for me to borrow. He comes back with two. A black on and a grey one. I grabbed the black one and hand Sasuke Kiba's. I slide the black hoodie on and look at him. Sasuke put both hoodies on his desk and walked out of his room.

                "You did a good job at picking out your clothes." He said as we walked down the stairs and to the front door where Sasuke puts on his shoes. "You look good."

                "Thanks, but my mom actually helped me with this." I laugh and walk out the door with him.

                "Your mom helped you? Well she's got pretty good taste." As we were walking I remembered the thing that Itachi wanted me to tell Sasuke. I don't know if I want to tell him that it was from his brother though. He didn't react all that great last time I mentioned him. But if it wasn't from Itachi, then who would it be from? Oh screw it, I'll just tell him about Itachi.

                "I ran into Itachi a while ago." Sasuke's steps clearly faltered and he glared over to me. Okay ... so I was blunt. Maybe I could have led up to the subject or something. To late now. "He just wanted me to tell you something about competition."

                "What about competition?"

                "I'm not sure. All he said was competition, and then left." It wasn't a complete lie. That really did happen. I'm just not going to mention the whole, I'm scared, he almost killed me, we apologized, we had a conversation, and now we're cool, thing to him.

                "That's all?"

                "Yeah."

                We walk for what seemed like hours. I occasionally glanced over to him as we walked, and every time I looked over to him he had the same confused expression on his face. He was probably trying to figure out Itachi's brief message.

                We eventually get to a house and walk up to it knocking. You could hear the music from a good distance away. The door swings open revealing Gaara.

                "Why'd you bring him? He's going to get us caught." Sasuke rolled his eyes grabbing me and shoving past Gaara.

                "He's here with me, it'll be fine." Sasuke paused and looks over his shoulder to the clearly annoyed red haired boy. "And besides, if we get caught, it'll probably be because of you and your stupid ideas." Gaara glared daggers into Sasuke clenching his fists.

                Sasuke nudged me making me look over to him. He nods in the other direction and left. I quickly followed trying not to bump into people on my way. We get through the crowd and to a less densely populated area.

                "Wait here, I'll get us some drinks." He left right after that.

                I felt kind of awkward just standing here looking around at nothing in particular. I don't really feel welcome. It was clear that Gaara didn't like me being here, and I was getting some strange looks from everyone who saw me. I look over to see if I could spot Sasuke anywhere, but I couldn't. I did see Sakura and Ino run into the kitchen though, so I suppose that's where he is.

                "Naruto?" A quiet voice says next to me. I turn around and eventually see Hinata walking towards me. I smile, grateful that I no longer had to stand alone.

                "Hinata. Hey!" She stands in front of me smiling.

                "I'm surprised you're here. Did you come with someone or did you come by yourself?

                "I got invited by Sasuke, so I decided to come. I didn't really know what to expect though. Wait, what are you doing here?"

                "G-Gaara told me to come."

                "Are you two close?"

                "Yeah, we're uhm ... d-dating." She slightly blushed and looked down at her hands. Saying I'm surprised by this would be a complete understatement. "I know he seems really mean, b-but he's really sweet to me. I-I also know that you two don't get along at all, c-considering that he bullied you a lot. I-I asked him to stop bullying you a while ago, d-did it work?" She looked up to me with an anxious look. Her asking Gaara to chill with the bullying would explain why he hasn't bothered me recently. I'm just surprised that he actually listened to her. He must really like her.

                "Yeah, it worked." I smile brightly at her making her giggle quietly. "He must really like you, you know."

                Hinata's eyes widen slightly and she faintly blushed. "W-why do you say that?"

                "Well he loves to tease me and beat on me, and to give up something that he loves so much must mean something. He'd rather up bullying me for making you happy." She looked to her feet smiling happily. "Thank you Hinata." She looked up surprised, but then she smiled again.

                "You're w-welcome." There was an arm that wrapped itself around Hinata's shoulders scaring the both of us. I look over to see Gaara glaring at me. I quickly advert my eyes. I didn't want to push my luck, even though he's stopped he could still snap.

                "Let's go Hinata." He growled.

                "O-okay, bye Naruto." I smile warily at her as Gaara pulls her away. When they were out of view, I sighed heavily. Where is Sasuke?

                "That was a mighty hefty sigh just now, what's wrong?" The voice behind me made me jump and quickly turn. I slightly un-tensed and tried to smile when I saw that it was Sasuke. "A little on edge, are we?" Sasuke smirked handing me a drink.

                "You could say that." I nervously laugh taking the cup and bringing it to my lips. When I a sip, I pull it away from my mouth surprised. "This has alcohol in it?" Sasuke looks at me then takes a sip of his own drink.

                "I guess it does." Sasuke didn't seem too shocked by this, but the tone in his voice told me that he didn't know that it actually did. He glanced over at me as I was skeptically looking at the drink in my hands. It's good, but what if I get drunk? "If you want I can get you water or something else."

                "No, no it's fine." I looked up to him and smiled. Sasuke leaned back on the wall next to me and smirked.

                "Have you ever had alcohol before?" He said smugly, probably thinking that I had never had it before. I can definitely see why he thinks I haven't, but little does he know that he's wrong. Even though it was only one time, but I still have.

                "Actually, I have."

                Sasuke looked over at me a little more than surprised. "Oh really?"

                "yeah, but this is only the second time." I take another sip of the liquid and glance around.

                "Have you never been to a party like this before?" I look over to him out of the corner of my eye then forward again.

                "If little kid birthday parties don't count then I'm afraid not." I saw Sasuke smile so I turned to face him. "Hey, pin the tail on the donkey was pretty intense." He chuckled some more, shaking his head.

                "I bet it was."

                "Don't people normally dance or something at parties?"

                "When they feel like it, or when a good song comes on." All of a sudden, the music changed into a faster song and Sasuke smirked. "Like this. Wanna go dance." He nods away from the wall indicating the place he was going to go to. I look around and see everyone, besides a few, doing some form of dance.

                "I-I can't dance."

                "Then I'll teach you. Come on." He pulls my arm, but let's go once I was off of the wall. I hesitantly weave my way between the dancing people finally bumping into Sasuke. He turned to me and leaned close to me saying something in my ear. "Just follow my moves, you'll catch on."

                He stepped back smirking. All of a sudden he started moving around. His moves seemed so smooth. It looked as if he was a professional dancer. He looked over to me, sighed, danced his way behind me and grabbed my hips. I look back surprised.

               "Relax. Your moves will look hectic if you're tense. Just have fun with it and do what you think feels right. Also just so you know, if you're trying to impress someone, move your hips and they'll go wild."

                "I'll try." He let go and back away. I attempted to do as he said, but I failed miserably. When I stopped I glanced to Sasuke. He moved behind me, once again grabbing my hips, but this time he pulled me close to him making a blush creep up onto my face.

                "Not bad, but try this. Just follow my lead." He started to move, making me move right along with him. His hands guiding me for a while, but he eventually let go and backed up. I barely noticed and continued to dance. I glance over to him and decide to put my new found skill to use. I move around in a way that seems like it would look good. My little dance led me to stop right in front of Sasuke. I smile and look at him.

                "How'd I do?"

                "Hn. I don't think you need anymore of my help." He smiled as the song came to an end.

                "I'm pretty good, aren't I?" I say proud of myself. I wasn't too bad for a beginner.

                "You learned from the best." Sasuke walks over to our drinks, with me at his heels. I grab my drink and take a sip. I look over and see that Sasuke finished his already. I take a couple more sips before deciding to drink the rest of it.

                "Sasuke, Gaara said that he wanted to see you." Sakura says motioning to the kitchen.

                "Why?" He narrows his eyes and leans back on the wall with his shoulders as he crosses his arms.

                "I don't know, but he just said that he really needs to talk to you."

                Sasuke doesn't make any movement indicating he was going to move, in fact he looked really pissed off for some reason.

                "Do you take me for an idiot or something?"

                "Wha- no, of course not!"

                "Then why are you trying to pull something so stupid? If Gaara wanted me then he would come over and tell me. I can see him from across the room. You weren't near him. Therefore he could not have asked you to find me for him. Now what I'm trying to figure out, is why do you want me to go over there so badly."

                "Well, I ..."

                "Why don't you just say it? You have something to say to Naruto, so just say it. When we were dancing I saw you glaring at him."

                "I ... it's nothing. I'll see you guys later." As she walked away, her fists clenched. I look over to Sasuke confused to what just happened.

                "Uh ... what was all that about?"

                "She's just jealous."

                "Of what?"

                "She's jealous of you. You were dancing with me just a minute ago and she didn't like that." He closes his eyes and sighs. "She and all of the other girls also think of you as an adversary."

                "What? W-why?"

                "Ever since it got out that you were gay, everyone took more notice in you. Whether it be to avoid you, tease you, or think of you as an opponent. It just drew you some much unwanted attention from just about everybody."

                "But..." I furrow my brows and glare at the ground. "This shouldn't bother me, right? I mean, I've dealt with it for so long that something like this shouldn't phase me, but the fact that people are probably ..." I stop and sigh. Why am I saying this? He doesn't want to know this. I look up smiling. "Never mind, I don't know what got into me just now. Sorry about that. Wow it's hot in here, what about you? Don't you think so?" I shrug off his hoodie and put it in a chair beside me. "That's better." I look over to my right at the group of people. I don't want to make any eye contact right now, especially with Sasuke.

                "Naruto..." Sasuke said quietly.

                "You know, everyone looks like their having a lot of fun." I don't know what he has to say, but I have a feeling that I don't want to know, so for now I'm just going to keep acting like I can't hear him. Childish, I know, but I'm not good in these kinds of situations. I always get tense and awkward.

                "Naruto..." He says a little louder.

                "I wonder what Hinata is doing."

                "Naruto." His voice once again raising.

                "I wonder if Kiba would like this kind of thing."

                "Naruto!" There was no way I could pretend that I didn't hear that, I'm sure the whole house heard it.

                "Uhaha, yeah?" I nervously laugh and look to him. When I saw his expression I bit my bottom lip and look at the ground.

                "Why were you ignoring me?"

                "I wasn't ... well ... I was, but I ..." I sigh and look up at him. "I don't know."

                "I just wanted to say-" Out of the middle of nowhere the room was flashing red and blue. I looked around the room in confusion, but then I met Sasuke's gaze. His eyes were wide and he was frozen stiff.

                "U-Uh ... S-Sasuke?"

                "Run!" Sasuke yelled. Everyone at the same time started sprinting every which way, including Sasuke. Shit, where did he go? I start to run, but everyone that was running past me shoved me out of their way. I get pushed into the wall and fall. Dammit! I stand up holding my head. I was about to run, but I forgot about Sasuke's hoodie, so I quickly pick it up and run. I search the crowd for Sasuke's duck butt hair, but I couldn't see him.

                I see someone run past me so fast that I wasn't able to see who it was, but they grabbed my wrist as they ran past. "Hurry!" Sasuke. I was so relieved that he didn't leave me here alone. I do my best to keep up with him, but he was really fast. I just barely mange to keep up. We burst out the back door with a crow of people dodging some police. He then leads us into the densely forested area behind Gaara's house. We only slowed when we couldn't hear all of the commotion, or the sirens. And even then we went a little further.

                When Sasuke did stop, I ran right into him unable to stop myself as fast as he had. He tried to catch me, but failed from exhaustion causing me to force us onto the ground in a mangled mess. My head was on his chest an half of my body was on top of his. Neither of us moved for quite some time as we caught our breath, but when I finally caught all of my breath I started to laugh slightly. When I felt Sasuke chuckle slightly, I burst out laughing and he does soon after I do.

XXXXX

                We were careful as we walked through the woods, making sure that there wasn't anyone around. When we got to the edge, we quickly got to the sidewalk.

                "Well ... I can honestly say that I have never had that happen."

                "Even if we almost got caught, it was still fun."

                "I definitely got my adrenaline going. For a minute when everyone was running around trying to escape, I thought you left me because I lost sight of you."

                "I wouldn't do that, I thought you were following me so I just ran. But when I looked back to see if you really were, I didn't see you so I ran back."

                "I'm just surprised the police were called."

                "Yeah I am too. That's never happened to any of Gaara's parties before. I guess his neighbors finally got fed up with it." We walk up to his house and Sasuke looks at me over his shoulder. I held out my hand that held his hoodie. He frowned and took it.

                "I'll see you tomorrow."

                "Don't you want to get Kiba's hoodie?"

                I probably should. "Oh, yeah I forgot about that." We walk inside and quickly up the steps to his room. I stepped through the doorway, but he was looking down the hall right outside of the door.

                "Do you want something?" Sasuke said in an agitated tone.

                "Yeah. The police cars that passed by not long ago were going towards Gaara's house. Did something happen there?" Kakashi's voice sounded from in the hall.

                "Nothing happened, they passed by his house."

                "Naruto." I froze holding Kiba's hoodie. Okay, so he saw me.

                "Uhm ... yeah?" I poke my head out from behind the wall.

                "Is this true?"

                "I already told you what happened, why do you have to ask him?"

                "Because I know that you would lie to get out of trouble." He looked back to me and I did my best not the break eye contact or bite my lip. "Is it true?"

                "Yeah, that's what happened." I smile and look at Sasuke who had no expression on his face what-so-ever.

                "See, now if you don't mind." Sasuke stepped in his room and closed his door. He looked over to me and sighed. "I seriously thought you were going to choke under pressure."

                "So did I. I'm terrible under pressure." I laugh.

                "Well you did good this time." He looks back to the door. "You should probably wait until Kakashi goes to bed before you leave though, I don't want him to pressure you any further."

                "Alright." I didn't mind waiting here, that just means I get to talk to Sasuke.

                "I'm going to go take a shower real quick, do what you want. I shouldn't be too long." He then left the room. Okay, maybe not. I might be able to talk to him when he gets back, if I don't leave before then. I walk over to his bed and sit down and look around his room not really knowing what to do.

                I hear a buzz on the desk across the room. What was that? I get up and walk over. I don't see anything that would cause that noise. Besides the cell phone on the back corner. Oh.

                It started buzzing again making me jump. It kept buzzing this time so I flipped it over onto its back and looked at the number. Who is Suigetsu? I go to answer, but quickly stop myself. This is Sasuke's phone and that is one of Sasuke's friends. I shouldn't answer it.

                It finally stopped and was quiet for a minute before it started buzzing yet again. The name Suigetsu popped up onto the screen once again as well. This boy is persistent.

                I ignore it and walk back over to the bed sitting down. Minutes pass and the phone buzzed and stopped the whole time. After the tenth time I got sick of it and picked it up, answering the call.

                "Hello?"

                "Who is this?"

                "A friend of Sasuke's, he's in the shower right now."

                "Okay, but who is this?"

                "I'll tell him to call you when he gets out."

                "Wait! Who-" I hang up and put it back where it was and I walk back over to the bed laying down. I stare at the ceiling for a long while before I roll onto my side facing the door and close my eyes. I laid there for a long time and I was practically asleep when I heard the door open and then shut, but I didn't bother to open my eyes. Okay, it was more like I couldn't. I was way too tired.

                "Naruto. Hey. Dobe. If you don't get up then I guess you're staying the night." He paused for a minute and I rolled to face the wall so that my back was now to him.

                "Someone wa-" I mumbled the rest making it hard to understand.

                "Someone what?"

                "Callin-"

                "Calling?"

                "Phone."

                "Oh."

                I heard him walk over to his phone and come back over to sit on his bed. When he sat, the bed made me roll closer to him. I made an unpleased groan and Sasuke laughed.

                "What did you want Suigetsu?" I could hear him mumble something. He sounded angry. "Calm down would you, it's just Naruto." He went quiet, but I heard a faint 'Naruto?' "Yeah, Uzumaki. Now what do you want?" I heard him say something about Gaara and ... watermelons? Although I am half asleep so I don't know if I heard him right. "I was there, and no I didn't get caught. Now if that's all you wanted I'm going to go." There was an angry yell from Suigetsu as Sasuke hung up the phone. "You staying or no?"

                I attempted to say something, but it just came out as mumbles that not even I could understand what I was trying to say. I felt Sasuke lean over me and he repeatedly slapped my face to wake me up. I grumbled and opened my eyes to see that Sasuke was half hovering overtop of me shirtless. My eyes shot open the rest of the way and I sit up when Sasuke moved back.

                "S-sorry! I-I'll go now. I didn't mean to fall asleep." I grab Kiba's hoodie and quickly stand up to leave, but Sasuke grabbed my wrist.

                "Calm down dobe. I'm not mad at you for falling asleep here, I was trying to see if you wanted to just stay the night." I slowly looked over my shoulder back to Sasuke. He wants me to stay?

                "You ... want me to stay?"

                "Well I don't necessarily want you to leave." I tried to make myself not get worked up over what he had just said, but my body was betraying me making me slightly blush.

                "Would it be okay with Kakashi?"

                "I'm sure he already thinks that you're staying over, so yeah, it's fine."

                "O-okay. Where do you want me to sleep?"

                Sasuke jabs a thumb to his bed. "My bed. That's normally where people sleep ya know."

                "Well ... I just thought that ... uhm ..."

                He raised a brow at me in confusion and when the realization hit him, he smiled quite evilly. "You're worried about sleeping in the same bed as me."

                "It's not that I'm worried really." I turn myself the rest of the way to face him.

                "Nervous?"

                "Well..."

                "Nervous." He smirked. "What, do you have a crush on me?" He looked at me in a very seductive manner making me want to just forget about being nervous and jump him right now. Dammit why does he have to be so damn attractive?

                "No. I just ... no." Sasuke's smirk turned devilish as he went over and turned the light off. As soon as I couldn't see anything but black, I automatically tensed. I didn't even hear him walk towards me, but he was right behind me grabbing my shoulders.

                "Come on dobe, I promise I won't bite." He brings me to the bed making us both sit down. Sasuke leaned over my shoulder and whispered into my ear. "Not much anyway." He lets go and rolls over to his side of his bed leaving me sitting there speechless. After a minute I heard him move. "Are you still sitting up?"

                "Maybe."

                "I'm not trying to force you stay you know. And just so you know, I was only joking."

                I make myself relax and lay back. "I know. I really do want to stay, I just feel awkward staying somewhere for the first time."

                "It's fine." After that short conversation I felt a lot more comfortable. Maybe because Sasuke told me he was joking about the biting thing. Not like I actually thought that he would bite me, but I uh ... I'm just ... gonna go to bed now.

XXXXX

                "You really are a heavy sleeper, you know that." Sasuke says to me as he puts a plate of eggs in front of me. I groggily rub my eyes and grab a from. "I was just about to go wake you up if you didn't get up soon." I look up to see Sasuke sit himself across the table.

                "I don't normally sleep in so late, but your bed is just so comfortable." I look down at my plate and start to eat. When I finished, I brought my plate over to the dishwasher. "Thanks for the eggs, did you make them or did Kakashi?"

                "I did. Kakashi doesn't wake up this early. He is my cause for always being late for school." Sasuke sighed and put his plate in the dishwasher as well.

                "Want me to go wake him up?"

                "No, it's fine."

                "Don't you get in trouble for coming in late?"

                "No, Iruka knows that I'm with Kakashi, so he doesn't mark me absent. If I'm not going to school then either I or Kakashi text him." He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. I followed him and sat next to him. He pulls out his phone and starts typing. All I saw was that he was texting Iruka. Why would he need to text Iruka?

                When he puts his phone away he closed his eyes and leaned back. "Do you have a phone?"

                "Uhm ... no, my parents don't have any technology in our house."

                Sasuke opened his eyes and looked to me. "You're kidding."

                "No, all I have is a cd player to listen to music."

                "Now I understand why you've never played a video game before. What else can't you do?"

                "A lot. I'm not even supposed to be your friend, or Kiba's."

                "What? Why me?"

                "I don't know. I'm also not supposed to be friends with Kakashi. I can't drink or party. I'm not allowed to stay out past ten, but I've been breaking that rule recently. There is a total of 22 rules that I have to follow. All of them just as ridiculous as the next."

                "I can't believe you don't break more rules than you do."

                "Well I do but if my dad catches me then it's not pretty. My mom used to get really mad too, but she's changed recently."

                "Wait, does your dad beat you?" Sasuke furrowed his brows together.

                "Uhm ... no." I look down at my hands and start to mess with my nails.

                "That wasn't very convincing. Haven't you told anyone else?"

                "W-what are you talking about?" I nervously laugh and look up at him. "I don't have anything to ..." When I see the look on his face I look away. "tell."

                "Why do you always lie?"

                "I don't lie. If I do then it's for a good reason."

                "Then what's your reason for lying fright now?"

                I look away and see Kakashi making his way down the steps. "Can we not talk about this now please." I stand up letting my bangs cover my eyes. I glanced at him once before I turned to Kakashi. He had a mixture of anger and sadness on him.

                "Ready you two?"

                "Yeah." Sasuke stands and we go out to the car.

XXXXX

                "Should I have told him?"

                "No, we don't know if we can honestly trust him yet."

                "I think that I can. I'm pretty sure that he has good intentions. He looked kind of sad when I asked him to drop it."

                "He could have bee sad that you didn't tell him because he just wanted to know so he could tell everyone. You can't be too sure."

                "Kiba." I glance over to him then back to the sky. I asked him to skip class with me, so he did. I had p.e. right now and I didn't feel like going. I was freaking out about Sasuke. I didn't know what to think about any of it. I really want to be his friend, I know I brought this upon myself, but something is making my stomach feel all funny when I'm around him. Does this feeling mean something bad? Should I really stay away from him?

                "I don't know if I should trust him. Whenever I'm around him I feel funny. My stomach feels weird and my chest aches sometimes. I don't know. Is that my body telling me to stay clear? I can't tell. He can't be faking it, could he? I mean our friendship that we have. I make him laugh and smile all the time. He never used to do that. You can't fake your feelings, can you?"

                "When you say that you feel funny around him, your body definitely isn't telling you to stay away from him. In fact, it's the complete opposite. You seem to have developed a crush on the Uchiha. As for the whole friendship thing with faking feelings. You can fake feelings. I'm not saying that he is, but you can fake them. Especially if you want something from that person."

                "Wait... so that means that ..." If those feelings I had with Sasuke means that I have a crush on him then ... does that mean those same feelings I had with Kiba ... were telling me that I ... have a crush on Kiba too? I felt my face grow warm. There's no way, we're best friends. I'm just getting confused. I can't like him.

                "Naruto?" Kiba sat up with worried eyes on my own confused ones. "Your face is red, are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?"

                "Uh ... uhm ... I ... n-no ... uhm ... I'm ... okay." Kiba scooted closer to me and put his hand on my forehead which only caused my face to redden more.

                "You feel slightly warm. Wait..." Kiba backed up and furrowed his brows. "Are you just embarrassed?"

                "I guess so." I nervously laugh and I could feel my nerves going down.

                "I was seriously worried about you, ya know." Kiba glared laying back down.

                "I told you that I was fine, you should listen next time." I smile and crossed my hands over my stomach.

                "What were you so embarrassed about?"

                "I don't really know. It started after the realization of having a crush. Well actually it wasn't the crush on Sasuke that got me so worked up. It was the potential crush that I have on someone else that really got to me."

                "Wait, someone else?"

                "If that's your way of asking who it is I'm not going to say."

                "Wha- Naruto. I told you mine!"

                "Out of your own free will." I smile and look over to him. "And plus, I don't want to tell you who it is and it turns out not to be true."

                Kiba huffed and looked to the clouds once more. "Shikamaru would love to be here right now."

                "Yeah, he would. Where is he anyway?"

                "At home."

                "Sick?"

                "Packing."

                "Packing?"

                "Packing."

                "Why?"

                "He's moving."

                "What?!"

                "He said he hasn't had the time to tell you yet."

                "Where is he moving?"

                "Pretty far away. His dad got a really good job offer so they have to move." He's moving? I can't believe it. I won't be able to talk to him anymore.

                "Then..." I sit up and look at my feet. I don't know how to feel right now. "I'll never be able to talk to him again. He won't be my friend anymore." I clench my teeth. "Kiba..." He was by my side in an instant wrapping his arms around my shoulders for a second before letting go.

                "That isn't true Naruto. He will be your friend no matter what. You don't just lose someone's friendship if they move away."

                "You do if you can never talk to them."

                "Why don't you go to his house after school today and talk to him."

                "Is he busy?"

                "He could take a break if he is. You two need to talk."

                "Alright, I'll go."

                "If you want I can go with you."

                "No it's fine. It's not like I haven't been there before."

                "Okay." He looks over the edge of the school to see the people outside. He got up and walked closer to the edge to see better. I get up and stand next to him as he leans on the fence. "He really is good at soccer, isn't he? Sasuke, that is."

                "Hn, he's good at everything."

                "Why do you say that?"

                "I've watched him sometimes in the classes that I have with him. He's good at everything we do in gym. When we play dodge ball he is really aggressive. In volleyball he always brings his team to victory. He is the fastest runner in soccer and football. In baseball he hits the ball the furthest. In English class, his short story is near perfection. That's not even all."

                "I guess he does seem perfect."

                "He can even dance. It's not wonder everyone seems to love him."

                "I don't."

                "You like him at least, right?"

                "..."

                "Why don't you like him?"

                "I just ... don't."

                "Is it because everyone else likes him?"

                "I don't care that everyone else likes him, I don't like him because..."

                "Can you please just tell me?"

                "I don't like him because you have a crush on him." I look at him in confusion. Just because I have a crush on him? He must still have a little crush on me or something. He must think of him as some kind of competition.

                "Kiba."

                "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that. It makes me sound like such an ass."

                "It's fine, it's probably a lot harder on you then I think. I won't talk about him around you if that makes it better."

                "No, I don't want you to restrain yourself around me. It doesn't bother me all that much anyway." Liar.

                "If you say so." I sigh and lean on the fence too. There was someone down on the field that stopped running after they made a goal and looked up towards us. They used their hand to block out the sun to see better. "Someone is looking at us."

                "Who?"

                "I can't tell. They are over there." I point to where the person was standing.

                "Oh. We should probably go before we get caught then." He pushes off the fence and heads to the door. I take one more glance back to where the person should have been, but they were gone. "You coming?"

                "Yeah." I hurry and catch up to Kiba as he opens the door to go inside.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Shikamaru**

                I hesitantly walk up to the door and clench my fists. There was a bunch of boxes in the opened garage. I look back to the door and quickly knock. A few seconds passed and I hear the lazy footsteps walking towards the door. It swung open revealing Shikamaru's father. He blinked at me then smiled.

                "Naruto, what a pleasant surprise. Shikamaru's in his room, go on up."

                "Thank you." I smile as I walk past him to Shikamaru's room. I knock lazily on the door, but when nothing happened, I knocked again with a little more force. That's when I heard a shuffle from the other side of the door. The door opened and Shikamaru took it's place as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. When he opened his eyes they go a little wide. "Hey Shika." He moved aside and I went in.

                "I definitely wasn't expecting you to be standing there. I take it you heard?"

                "Kiba told me." I take a seat and he sits next to me.

                "I don't want you to think that I wasn't going to tell you, cause I was. I just haven't really had the time recently. I really didn't want you to find out this way."

                "It's fine, I know you were going to tell me eventually."

                "Are you okay with this?"

                "Of course." I smile my happiest smile at him, but it soon fades. "I'm just worried about you, are you going to be okay?"

                "I'll be fine. I already know some people over there so it won't be bad."

                "Oh really, what's their name?"

                "Temari and Kankuro."

                "Temari. That's a girl's name, right?"

                "Yeah."

                "You finally gonna get yourself a girlfriend? Huh, huh?" I laugh as I nudge him teasingly.

                He chuckles and shakes his head. "Not even close."

                "Aww, but something about it tells me that you two are gonna hit it off."

                "That's why we're friends." I laugh and look at my hands.

                "Hey Shikamaru."

                "Hmm?"

                "Are we ... still going to be friends after you move?"

                "Are you crazy? What kind of question is that? Of course we're going to stay friends."

                "I'm just worried. There's no way that we can contact each other after you move."

                "Ever heard of the old fashioned letter?" I look over feeling like an idiot. How didn't I think of that? He smiled and I felt my face grow faintly warm. "Don't worry Naruto. I won't leave you. I'll always be there to talk if you want, it'll just take a little while to reply so write a lot." I smile and stand up. I turn and face him as he stands as well.

                "You're right, I don't know what I was freaking out about. As much as I don't want to, I have to go. Now don't you dare even think about leaving without saying goodbye."

                He smiles. "I wouldn't dream of it." I smile as best as I could and turn to leave. "I'll see you later, Naruto." I look over my shoulder and I felt tears in my eyes.

                "Bye." I quickly left his house just in case the tears decided to creep out. It was a good thing I did too, because the tears did indeed end up rolling down my cheeks in a light stream. I know he isn't moving yet, but just the fact that he is leaving got to me. I shouldn't be crying right now, I'm in town and it's still daylight out.

                "If it isn't Naruto." Shit. I instantly freeze and wipe my tears and sniff. I glance over my shoulder to see who it is. Itachi and some blond guy.

                "O-oh, hey Itachi. What are you doing out here?" I turn and face them but I made sure to look at my hands.

                "I was going to ask you the same thing. We were just walking around."

                "I was just heading home." I look up for a second then back down.

                "Naruto, you're acting weird. Is everything okay?"

                "What, me? Oh sorry, yeah I'm fine." I nervously laugh and scratch the back of my head.

                "Where you crying?" I tense and looked at him. "You were, why? Did someone do something to you? Do I need to talk to them?"

                "No! No, I just got a little overwhelmed is all. It's not important really."

                "Naruto, what hap-"

                "Who're you with?" I cut him off and look to the blond who has been looking at me the whole time.

                "Huh? Oh I forgot, Naruto this is Deidara. Deidara, Naruto."

                "You really have shot up, haven't you."

                "Do you know me or something?"

                "Who doesn't know you is really the question." Deidara smiled. "But to answer your question, yes, I do know you." I look to Itachi a little worried.

                "It's okay Naruto, he was in the Akatsuki with me."

                "You left the Akatsuki too?" I look aver to Deidara.

                "Their ways were getting out of hand. Your parents were just the start of it. I stayed with them for a while longer after Itachi. They started killing everyone that they thought would do anything to interfere with them. They would kidnap people to get info out of them and then when they got what they wanted, they'd kill them. A lot of people that they killed had nothing to do with them. They were just random people off of the street."

                "They just let you leave when you know all this?"

                "I didn't ask for their permission, I just left. A good thing about being in that organization is that we all know how to cover up our tracks. When I came to Konoha I found Itachi. It's been years now." We all started to walk again.

                "What did they even do?" 

                "What do you mean?" Itachi glanced down at me.

                "Like ... what did the organization do? What's their purpose?"

                "Anything illegal really. Mostly killing people anymore though. People tend to hire them for some dirty work too. Anyway, enough of the serious talk. I hear that you went to a party at Gaara's and the police came. You and Sasuke get caught?"

                "No, I would have if it weren't for Sasuke though."

                "How close are you two?" Deidara says looking over to me.

                "We're friends."

                "Nothing more?"

                "Not really."

                "But you have a crush on him, right?"

                "I suppose I do."

                "Finally admitting it are we?" Itachi laughs.

                "When are you going to ask him out?"

                "Ask him out? I-I can't! No way!"

                "Why not?"

                "He's just ... I just ... we're just friends. He doesn't think of me as anything else."

                "Naruto. Uchiha's tend to have a thing for blonds, trust me. Take Itachi for example." I look over to Itachi and arch my eyebrow.

                "Are you two?"

                They both look over to me. "Are we what?"

                "Together?"

                "Oh, yeah. I denied him for a long time but he's very persuasive."

                "How long have you been together?"

                "Six years."

                "Are you guys married or just dating?"

                "Married." Itachi says showing me his ring.

                "I would have never guessed." I look down to my left hand and mess with the bandage. I wonder if it's any better?

                "Life is full of surprises."

                "Some not so friendly." I whisper to myself.

                "What was that?"

                "Oh, nothing. Hey Itachi, how come you seem so much nicer than when I first met you? You kind of freaked me out."

                "Sorry about that, I guess I was just curious to see what you'd do. You could call it a test." He looked over to me smirking. "You failed."

                "Wha-? Why?"

                "Don't worry about it, I decided that you passed the last time we met."

                "Okay, I'm officially confused."

                "I was seeing if you were good enough for Sasuke."

                "I see ... wait. Good enough for Sasuke?"

                "Dating him." Itachi leaned slightly closer. "If you do end up dating him, teach him that he isn't always the dominant one in the relationship." My mouth opened faintly and so did my eyes. I felt my face flush. He backed up smiling triumphantly.

                "Way to go Itachi, you broke him." Deidara playfully slapped Itachi in the arm and I snapped back to reality. "You know Naruto, I could teach you a trick that would make Sasuke beg for more." If my face was back to it's normal color, then that was long gone.

                "U-uh ... n-n-no thanks."

                "Aww, don't be shy. You'll be glad that you know it, it works on Itachi every time." That last sentence was enough to make my face as red as it could possibly go. Are we seriously talking about this?

                "That's ... okay. Plus, I'm ... not even dating him yet."

               "You said yet, so you are planning on asking him out?" Itachi smirked.

                "I-I don't know. I'd probably pass out if I tried."

                "Practice."

                "Practice what?"

                "Asking him out."

                "Nope, I'm good."

                "If you don't ask him out then you'll never get to try what I'm going to tell you." Deidara says smiling.

                "Nope, no, not listening. Sorry ... uh ... look at the time. I uh ... yeah ... gotta go bye!" I wave and sprint off. As I turned around I saw them laughing. They're evil.

XXXXX

                "There you are! I was so worried about you. I heard that a party got busted by the police, was that the one you went to? Are you hurt? Where were you all this time?"

                "I'm fine mom, no that wasn't the party I was at. I was at Sasuke's."

                "...Uchiha?"

                "Yeah."

                "Don't tell your father." Well that was unexpected. I thought she'd get at least slightly angry at me, but I guess not. I starting to like this new mom.

                "Don't tell your father what?" A deep angry voice sounded from the archway from the living room. I turn around quickly and step in front of my mom.

                "You misheard her, she said go tell your father."

                "It's nice of you to try and defend her, but I'm no idiot. I knew something has been going on between you two recently and I'm going to get down to the bottom of it. Now tell me the truth, boy."

                "I already told you what's going on." I growled.

                "That was a lie!" He grabbed me by my collar holding me eye to eye with him. I narrow my eyes and grab his wrist.

                "I told him not to tell you that he was with a friend." He glared to her and so did I. She smiled over to me. "I appreciate you trying to protect me, but I'll be okay Naruto."

                "What friend?"

                "An Uchiha."

                "What?!" He snapped his vision back to me and tightened his grip. He then brought up another fist and went to hit me, but my mom grabbed his arm just like before.

                "Please don't. He's done nothing wrong."

                "How dare you defend him!" He ripped his arm from her grip and hit her sending her stumbling into a wall. My eyes went wide as I saw her fall to the ground. All of a sudden, my mind went blank and I somehow managed to rip myself free from him and punch him in the middle of his face most likely breaking his nose. He stumbled backwards holding his nose. When he moved his hand, there was blood. Oh yeah, definitely broken.

                Before he had any time to retaliate, I jumped at him knocking us both to the floor. I started to punch him again and again, but he caught my fists picking me up and he threw me with so much force. T end up hitting the corner of the table with my back. I cringe at the pain letting out a quiet yelp and I look up to see him reach down and grab my shirt to pick me up once again. When I was up I proceeded to punch him, but this time it was in the gut. HE dropped me backing up and falling onto the couch. I tried to punch him again, but he grabbed the lamp from the coffee table and hit me in the side of the head sending me back into the wall. A couple picture frames fall and the glass in them shattered by my feet. A couple pieces of the glass cut me, but I ignored it.

                Next thing I notice, my face was in the glass. I grabbed the hand that was pushing me into it and pulled it away. I then shot up and shoved him face first into the brick of the fireplace. I immediately back up and watch him. Of course since I wasn't watching where I was going, I fell. He slowly got to his feet. I look over and I don't see my mom where she was before. I see quick movement from the corner of my eye. I realize it was my dad. He ran towards me holding a sharp piece of glass. You've got to be kidding me right now. Is he trying to kill me? Has he finally lost it? I instantly stand, but he pushes me against the wall holding the glass to my throat. I struggled pushing back against him.

                "You are such an annoyance. I never wanted you. It was all her idea. She was the one that wanted a snot nosed brat like you. But now, after two long years, I get to put an end to my suffering. You've given me good enough reasons." I snap my eyes over to his arm and I see a hand grab him. He defensively swung his arm back. That's when I realized who it was.

                He swung his arm back with the glass in his hand and released his hold on me. I fell to the ground gasping for air. I glance up terrified to see what was happening. The scene before me right now was one that made my heart constrict against my chest. My mom was standing there with a look of horror and pain in her eyes as she held her throat with blood seeping out from behind her hands.

                I felt myself become automatically nauseous. My stomach tightened and my hand shot to my mouth while the other arm wrapped across my stomach. My eyes drop to the floor and all of a sudden I hear a loud thud and I flinch and shut my eyes tightly. I started to shake and my stomach was wanting me to throw up. I sat there for a minute with my eyes shut before I open them and slowly stand. My knees give out the first attempt to stand, but I stood on the second try. I clung to the wall and made it to the door quickly opening it and running out into the lawn and falling to my hands and knees gasping for air.

                I need to move. I need to tell the police, someone, anyone! Stand up you worthless idiot! I mentally slap myself and pull myself together just enough to stand up and start running. I got a lot of bewildered looks as I ran down the road. I could only imagine what I looked like right now.

                I started feeling extremely light-headed. I had so many thoughts running through my head at the moment that I didn't even realize that I was standing in front of Kakashi's and Sasuke's house. I knock continuously until someone opened the door. When no one answered, my stomach started to hurt even worse than before. I hugged myself tightly and started to hyperventilate. This time I pounded much harder and finally someone came and opened the door.

                Kakashi stood in front of me with a very confused expression spread on his face. That look last two seconds before it turned to shock. "Naruto? What-"

                "Call ... the police, my dad ... killed my-" I passed out before I could finish my sentence, but just before I passed out I glanced back behind Kakashi to see Sasuke in complete shock.

XXXXX

                "Kakashi he still not up." Who's not up?

                "Relax Iruka, he just passed out." Who passed out?

                " _Just_ passed out?!" Who just passed out?

                "Okay, that's not what I meant. I meant that he passed out so he'll wake up eventually. The doctor said he'd be fine. Just some cuts and bruises." Who'll be fine? Wait, doctor?

                "Guys, could you keep it down." Sasuke?

                "He's right, he needs rest. Come on Iruka, let's go somewhere else to talk about this. Sasuke, let us know when Naruto wakes up." Yeah Sasuke, let them know when- oh.

                I hear Kakashi and Iruka leave and Sasuke moves. A hand gently brushes my hair from my face, but it leaves soon after.

                "You're so wreckless. Why didn't you tell me about your parents?"

                "How'd you know I was up?" I slowly open my eyes and see black ones staring into my own.

                "I just could."

                I sighed and looked away from him. "I never told you about my parents because it's not something that I'm too fond of talking about." I roll onto my other side to face the wall and I felt Sasuke sit on the bed.

                "I can understand why. I'm not going to force you to talk about it if you don't want to." I look down at my arms and see that my jacket wasn't on anymore. I lightly run my hand over my scars on my arm. "You know, you were pretty beat up when you got here. When Iruka got here he nearly had a heart attack."

                I slightly smile. "He always did worry too much."

                "At times yes, but I think he has good reason to worry this time." Sasuke lays down next to me and I roll onto my back.

                "I guess you're right."

                "Even when I saw you I freaked out. I didn't show it of course."

                "That's not what I saw."

                He smiles looking over to me making our eyes connect. The look in his eyes made me feel so comfortable, like nothing bad had happened recently. I don't know what came over me, but I started to move closer to him. I saw a slight smirk as he realized what I was doing. He leaned in the rest of the way connecting our lips sending what felt like sparks through my whole body. I felt my heart beat quicken and Sasuke pushed closer deepening the kiss. HE then shifted us carefully so that he was hovering overtop of me and he pushes his tongue into my mouth surprising me at first, but I let him. It surprisingly felt kind of good.

                We both pull away for a second to catch our breath, but apparently Sasuke didn't want to wait too long because before I knew it he kissed me again doing something strange that made me quietly moan. I could feel a faint victory smirk coming from the Uchiha, so I brought my hands up to his neck pulling him closer and forced my tongue into his mouth. All of a sudden I heard the door burst open so we both looked over with confused expressions, granted Sasuke's seemed a little more peeved.

                "Sorry, I just couldn't stay away. I'm just really worr-" Iruka met my eyes and froze. He then looked over to Sasuke, then back to me. "You hormonal teenagers! He was just in a serious accident and hurt badly and you're on top of him looking like you're about to rip his clothes off! Get off of Naruto!" He started to angrily stomp over to us, but a pair of arms wrapped around him making him stop. Sasuke smirked and carefully got off of me sitting next to me. "Kakashi, let me go!"

                "Why don't you two boys finish up and meet us in the living room." Kakashi smirks dragging a fuming Iruka out the door with him. I lay my head back and close my eyes. I just kissed Sasuke. Why did I just kiss him? I guess it doesn't matter though, it seemed like he really wanted to kiss me too.

                "You okay to stand?"

               "Huh, oh, uh, yeah." I slowly sit up and that's when I realized the pain. My back really hurt, but my head hurt a million times worse. I cringe at the pounding in my head as I swing my legs over the bed and stand. I immediately grab onto Sasuke's shoulder so I didn't fall back down. Sasuke wrapped his arm around my waist and moved my arm around his shoulders. "Thanks."

                "Don't worry about it."   He helps me down the stairs and into the living room. Iruka and Kakashi were on the couch, so Sasuke sat me on the recliner. He then sat himself on the only seat left, on the far side of the couch. I really wanted him by my side right now, but oh well.

                "Naruto, can you tell us what happened?" Kakashi said softly.

                "Uhm ... well it's all kind of a blur right now. All I remember is coming home and my mom freaking out because I didn't go home. Then my dad came in and something happened to get him angry, so he ended up picking me up by my collar. My mom tried to stop him from hitting me and she did, but then he hit her. After that all I remember is getting really pissed an punching him. Somehow he got some broken glass and ... uhm ... he ..." I couldn't remember what happened after that. "He ... well ... uh ... I think he tried to kill me but my mom-" My eyes fly open widely as I remember what happened and pictures started coming back. I wrap my arms around my stomach and look to the ground. She got killed protecting me. I ... was I the cause of her death? I squeeze my eyes tightly closed and let my hair cover my face. "Nothing good ever comes from trying to help me. I'm only good at hurting people." I whisper this almost as if I was talking to myself. "It's because of me that she died. It's all my fault." I clench my fists and teeth. First it was Kurama, and now my mom. I just need to be put somewhere where I can't hurt people, maybe someone should just kill me.

                "Naruto. You didn't kill her. It would have happened no matter what."

                "It was because of my actions that she was killed." I look up feeling slightly light headed.

                "You don't know that."

                "Yes I do."

                "You can't control the actions of others."

                "I k-" I stared to get really worked up again and I felt my head pound even worse. My hands shoots up to my head to try and ease the pressure. I felt hands on my shoulders, but when I tried to open my eyes my head spun like a fan.

                "Relax Naruto." Iruka's voice was soft. His hands moved to my knees. Out of the middle of nowhere, there was a knock on the door.

                "I'll get it." Kakashi says getting up and going to the door.

                "Good afternoon Mr. Hatake, is Uzumaki Naruto awake? We have some news to tell him."

                "Yes, he's right in here." I hear the door close and two pairs of footsteps stop in front of me. I slowly open one of my eyes seeing a police officer kneeling in front of me.

                "You alright son?"

                "Yeah, I just got a headache." I weakly smile and open both eyes.

                "That's understandable." He stands up. "When we got to your house your father admit that he killed your mother. I'm sorry to say this, but he is going to be put in jail."

                "Where is Naruto going to go?" Iruka asked worriedly.

                "We did some research into Naruto and found some distant family. He can go and stay with them."

                "What?" I grab Iruka's hand on my knee and squeeze tightly. "I-I can't leave Konoha. Is there some way that I could stay?"

                "You can be adopted, but we would have to go through a long process. We would also need to find someone willing to adopt an almost seventeen year old boy."

                "I'll do it." Iruka says standing up. "I've been a part of his life ever since he was young. I'm the best choice for him."

                "I'll go back to the station and work things out. If you are eligible to adopt Naruto then I will send some paperwork in the mail. It should take a month or two to process. That is if all goes well. In the meantime, he can stay with you."

                "Thank you officer." When the police officer leaves, I look up to Sasuke. He was standing up and talking to Kakashi. Iruka stands in front of me and slightly smiles. "Are you okay with some old English teacher being your new dad?" I didn't move for a minute, but I soon jumped up and wrapped my arms around him tightly.

                "Of course." He must have been slightly stunned because he didn't do anything, but he soon hugged me back just as strongly.

                "Now how about we get you home so you can properly rest." Iruka backs up still holding onto me so I don't fall. I nod and look to Sasuke. He was looking at me so I smiled my biggest smile to him, making him smile and shake his head. "We're going to go Kakashi. I've got some stuff that suddenly came up."

                "Alright." Kakashi laughed and waved us goodbye I'm actually going to have real family now.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: New Surroundings**

                "We can get your stuff another time, right now I want you to go and get some rest." Iruka leads me down a hall and into a room. "This will be your room from now on. You go sleep, I have some things to do so I'll be gone for a little while. I'll be back before dinner though. Do you need anything before I leave?"

                "No, thanks. I'll be fine." I smile and sit o the bed still feeling slightly light headed from earlier.

                "Alright, then I'll be back."

                "Okay." He takes one last look at me before he leaves closing the door. I immediately lay back and close my eyes. For some reason I was extremely tired. It didn't take me long to fall asleep.

XXXXX

                Who is that? It kind of looks like ... me. Oh wait, it is me. Why am I looking at myself? Oh wait, Iruka is coming to talk to me. I see myself smirk evilly. That's not a very promising look. Why do I have that look on my face? I reach for something in my back pocket pulling something out. When I pull it out it shines and I look back to me. I see myself mouth 'This is all your fault, Naruto.' he then turns back to Iruka and stabs him in the chest. I look down to see the bloody knife in my own hands. I slowly looked up to see Iruka staring at me with wide eyes. I dropped the knife and tried to grab for him, but he fell backwards off of a cliff plummeting into the darkness below. I fell to my knees and reached out my hand trying to scream, but nothing would come out.

                "Nooooo!" It took me a minute to realize I was sitting up screaming on my bed. I was sweating and violently shaking. It's just a dream. It meant nothing. It was just a dream. My breath came in rigged gasps as I tried to calm down. I close my eyes and sit there with my head in my hands.

                I look up at the clock to see how long I was asleep. Only a half an hour. I sigh and stand up. I'm going to go take a shower, it might help me calm down. I wander down the hall until I found the bathroom. I go in and shut the door. It was pretty big. Well, it's bigger than my old one anyway. I open the closet and grab a towel setting it on the sink. I go over to the shower and mess with it trying to figure out how to work it. Eventually I got it to a warm temperature so I strip down and step in.

                The warm water ran over my body. I close my eyes and put my head under the running stream. After I wash my hair, I stand there for a long time. It was actually calming me down.

                By the time I got out of the shower, the bathroom was filled with steam. I grab my towel and dry myself off. I lay the towel around my neck and put on my pants. I grab my shirt and leave the warmth of the bathroom. I throw my shirt in my room and grab the towel. I bring it up on my head and rub my hair until it was semi-dry. I go into the kitchen ad look around. I walk over to the fridge, opening it and grab a bottle of water.

                This is my first time ever being at Iruka's house. Well, if I've been here then I don't remember it at all.

                All of a sudden I hear the door open and close. Looks like Iruka's back. I walk over to the archway to the living room. I could see him from here. I would have went over, but I was surprised to see someone else with him.

                "Kiba?" The both look over looking just as surprised as I am.

                "Naruto, what are you doing up?" Iruka questions walking over to the kitchen and dropped off the bags he was holding and Kiba did the same. "And why do you only have pants on?" He continues to talk to me as he puts the groceries away.

                "I took a shower. I was hot so I didn't put my shirt back on. If you want I'll go put it on."

                "No, it's okay. I was just wondering." He looks back to me looking me in the eyes for a minute before I adverted my stare. "You look really tired. Didn't you sleep at all while I was gone?" I look over to Kiba to see him putting stuff in the fridge.

                "Yeah I was asleep for a while. I woke up just recently and took the shower."

                "Oh, okay. Say, Naruto." He goes back to what he was doing before. "How does some homemade ramen sound for dinner?" All my previous tiredness left me and I felt myself smile brightly at him. He looks back and smiles. "I take that as an okay?"

                "More than okay!" I take a drink of my water and set it on the counter. "Do you think that I could ... uhm ... help make it?"

                He looks back surprised, but then smiled. "So you want to learn to cook? Of course you can help." I smile and look to Kiba who was smiling as he shut the fridge. "Why don't you two go and relax for a while. I'll tell you when I'm ready to start making it."

                "Alright." Kiba and I walk into the living room and Kiba sits on the couch. "I'll be right back." I run to my room grabbing my shirt and slipping it over my head as I walk back to the living room taking a seat next to Kiba.

                "I know you're probably sick of hearing this, but are you okay?"

                "I'm good, still pretty shaken by it all, but that's going to happen if you've just seen someone you care about get killed right in front of you."      

                "You seem pretty chill with it all right now though." He furrows his brows.

                "I've had some time to relax. If I think about it I get worked up again, so I'm trying not to think about it."

                "Okay, then let's talk about something else."

                "Well I actually do have something to tell you." I look away from him. I don't think I would be able to bear the pained look in his eyes when I tell him. "I kind of ... uhm ... kissed Sasuke."

                Silence.

                Okay, so I was expecting this, but that doesn't make it any less painful or awkward. When another minute passes with the loud silence, I slowly turn my gaze over to my best friend. He was ... smiling?

                "Why are you acting as if you did something terribly wrong?"

                "W-well ... I thought you'd be upset." I look at him confused.

                "Upset? At what? I'm happy for you! You finally got your first kiss! And let's not forget to mention who it was with." He winks and elbows me. "I'm so proud of you. You've done well, my young grasshopper." Well this is all going over strangely well. Why do I feel like he's hiding his true feelings from me just to make me feel better?

                Probably because that's what he's actually doing you idiot.

                'But why would he put himself through that torture?'

                Because he loves you. I don't know how or why, but he does. He just wants you to be happy.

                'Loves me? No, he just said that he has a crush on me.'

                Honestly. How are you so dense, but I'm so ... not? I mean really, I am you.

                'Oh, shut up. I really don't want to have to talk to you right now.

                "Naruto?"

                "Huh?"

                "Finally." He laughs. "You zoned out or something after I asked you a question."

                "Question?"

                He sighs. "I asked if your little kiss of yours with the Uchiha boy means you're dating now or no?"

                That's a good question. "Uh ... actually ... I don't really know."

                "How do you not know?"

                "I ... I don't know. I just don't know."

                "Oh Naruto." He shakes his head in disappointment making the 'tsk' noise.

                "What? I'm sorry I'm obviously stupid."

                "Stupid, no. You just don't understand relationship things."

                "You know what. Enough about me. Tell me about you."

                This shocked him a bit. "Me?"

                "Yeah you. Tell me about your life, your boyfriend, parents, how's life treating you, tell me about your homework if you have to. Just tell me ... something."

                "Okay. I don't know what sparked the sudden interest, but whatever. Uhm ... let's see. Oh! I know, my parents are nagging me about college and what I want to do with my life."

                "What do you want to do?"

                "I don't know really. Maybe I should become an FBI special agent or something. Sounds fun, right?" He laughs and looks at me. I smile, unsure to why he was laughing. He frowns at me. "Why so serious? I'm only joking ya know."

                "That actually isn't a bad idea you know, I don't know why you're laughing."

                "Because it's a crazy idea. They are in a lot of danger. Dealing with the worst criminals out there." He furrows his brows and situates himself to face me more. "You don't want to be an FBI special agent, do you?"

                "I wasn't thinking about it before, but now that you mention it, it's actually a pretty good idea."

                "You're kidding right?"

                "No. I want to be able to help get rid of threats. My real parents were killed by an organization and I want to get rid of them. Not only for what they did to me, but what they have done to everyone else and I want to prevent them from doing any further harm." I look over to him and smile. "Don't worry, Kiba. It's just a crazy idea. Gotta keep my options open, ya know. Anyway, what about you and Shino?"

                "Oh my gosh. No, nope, no, not happening, nope." He turns away and crosses his arms with a scowl on his face.

                "Something ... uhm ... happen?"

                "Yes. He's being such a little shit. He won't do anything with me anymore. He won't kiss me, he won't even talk to me sometimes, he won't even touch me, in fact, he goes out of his way so he doesn't have to touch me. I swear is boys had periods, that he'd be on his. Only this has been going on for a month. He is really starting to piss me off."

                "What did you do?"

                "I have no clue! He won't talk to me, remember!"

                "Why don't you give him some space for a little while. Let him cool down with whatever is making him boil over or whatever."

                "If I did that then he'd probably get even more angry at me."

                I purse my lips to the side and furrow my brows. Wrong subject to bring up. I'm terrible at advice. "Sorry that I can't help you. I shouldn't have brought it up."

                "It's not your fault, you wouldn't have known." He sadly smiles at me resting one of his arms on the back of the couch.

                "Naruto, Kiba, ready to cook." Iruka stands in the archway smiling with his hands on his hips. We both stand up and I smile.

                "Actually, I should go. I have a crap ton of homework and I have to get my room clean before my mom officially kills me." He walks over to the door putting on his shoes.

                "Oh, okay. Have fun." Iruka says with a disappointed tone.

                "Oh, I will. See you guys tomorrow." He then leaves me and Iruka standing there.

                Iruka looks to me. "Okay, let me re-phrase that. Naruto, are you ready to start cooking?"

                "Better believe it."

                "I go into the kitchen with Iruka and look at all the ingredients. He walks beside me and starts getting some pots out and he puts them all on the stove. He comes back to me and hands me a knife and some stuff to cut up. We go about preparing the ramen and Iruka teaches me how to cut things properly, along with how to cook to noodles and how to tell when they're done. When it was finally done, he put it into two big ramen bowls and got two pairs of chopsticks out setting everything on the table. I sit next to Iruka and pick up my chopsticks as Iruka does the same.

                "Itadakimasu." We both dig into our steaming bowls of ramen.

                "Thanks for dinner Iruka."

                "Thank you for helping with dinner, Naruto. You know, this is so much better than eating alone. I'm really looking forward to having you here."

                "I'm glad I get to live here now too."

                "You living here just means I'll be able to make sure you do your homework for my class."

                "What about all my other classes?"

                "I'll help you if you need it, but they have to yell at you for their classes, not me."

                "You're not even going to help Kakashi?" I continue to slurp down my ramen.

                "Okay, I might help him a little bit." He laughs making me smile. We talk for the rest of the time we ate. We somehow got on the topic of platypuses. I don't even know how, but whatever. When we finished, we both brought our dishes over to the sink and Iruka took mine, washing them both. I started to clean up our mess as he washed the dishes. We eventually ended up switching roles, so I got to wash the dishes and he dried and put them away.

                "What are you talking about English is boring?"

                "It just is." I shrug and hand him a bowl.

                "But that's my class, it should be the best class ever."

                "Not to burst your bubble Iruka, but a lot of people don't like it. They all call it their 'napping' period."

                "Wha-?! But..." He hangs his head with a displeased aura radiating off of him.

                "Sorry." I slightly chuckle and grab the sink's hose rinsing off the soap from the dish. Then an idea popped into my head. I glance to Iruka and smirk.

                "Naru-" He stops when I spray him in the face with the hose. He freezes, looks down, wipes off his face, looks back up, and smirks. "Oh it's on." I smirk and attempt to spray him again, but he grabs it and sprays me. I run behind the island and crouch. I crawl around to the corner and peak my head around to see if he was still there. He wasn't. I quickly turn around, but I was a second too late. He grabbed my ankles and pulled me towards him and started tickling me. I couldn't help but almost pee myself from laughter.

                I worm myself free from him somehow and run to the living room. I thought I was free, but I thought wrong. Iruka grabbed me, pulling me onto the couch and pulled me tight. I struggled for a minute, but I eventually gave up. I sighed and laid myself back against him. We stay there for a while, neither of us bothering to move.

                "I have something that I want to tell you Iruka."

                "What is it?"

                "I wanted to tell you thank you ... for everything. You were always there for me when I needed you and no one else was. Thank you for always being there, for being my friend, and now for being my family. It means more to me than you could ever imagine, so thank you. I don't know where I'd be without you." I felt his arms wrap tighter around me. "I love you Iruka."

                "I love you too, Naruto." I smile warmly and close my eyes.

XXXXX

                "So it was you up here yesterday. I thought I saw you." I quickly turn around seeing Sasuke walking over to me.

                "Sasuke ... what are you doing here?" He rests his elbows on the fence looking at all the students running around on the field.

                "I figured you were going to skip gym again and I wanted to see you." I sit down and Sasuke eventually does too.

                "People don't notice me when I'm not in class, they are definitely going to notice that you went missing. Everyone loves you."

                "That's where you're wrong. Everyone loves my looks, not me. And I don't really care if people notice that I skip. They'll just miss me for my skills."

                I smile and look over to him. "Confident are we?"

                "Of course." He smirks and looks me in the eyes. For some reason his black eyes made me feel secure, like nothing bad could happen to me. Sadly I had to break the feeling.         

                "Sasuke ... what did ... uhm ... why did you ... uh ... last night."

                "What about last night?"

                "Well ... the uh ... the kiss."

                "Oh."

                "I-I-I didn't mean to do that. I-I just-"

                "Naruto." He stops me and made me look at him. "You weren't the only one who kissed back. I kissed you back too." That's true. I hadn't thought of that. I feel my breathing calm down and I look him in the eyes.

                "Then ... what does that make us?"

                "Well we have two options. One, we forget all about it and continue to be friends. Or two, we can take it for what it really was and become more than friends." I advert my eyes and look to the concrete ground.

                "Well, I don't really want to just be friends."

                "Hn. Neither do I."

                I look back to him. "Does that mean that we're ... uh ... dating now?"

                "Sure does." He smirks making me smile. I actually have a boyfriend. Me. Uzumaki Naruto. Has a boyfriend. Not to mention that it's Uchiha Sasuke. I feel my smile widen. I look up to the rolling clouds.

                "I now understand why Shikamaru always came up here to watch the clouds. It's so peaceful." I lay back with my hands behind my head.

                "Where is Shikamaru anyway?"

                "Home."

                "Is he getting home schooled now or something?"

                "No, he's moving."

                "Where to?"

                "I'm not sure, but there are some people named Temari and Kankuro that he knows already."

                "He's moving to Suna."

                "Suna? How'd you know?"              

                "Temari and Kankuro are in Suna, unless they moved. I lived there for a week a long time ago. That's where I met Gaara."

                "Gaara lived there too?"

                "Yeah, Temari and Kankuro are siblings. He was sent here because of his parents."

                "So are Temari and Kankuro ... just like Gaara?"

                "Not even similar. I'm surprised they're siblings." That was a relief. I'm really worried about Shikamaru. I don't want him to be in the wrong group. Apparently the worry was written all over my face because Sasuke said something. "You don't have to worry about him. Especially if he's friends with Temari. She's someone you just do not want to mess with. Shikamaru is safe, trust me."

                "Okay, now I don't want to meet her. She sounds kind of terrifying."

                "Don't worry about her. As long as you don't bash on Gaara, you'll be fine. I learned that the hard way."

                "What did she do to you?"

                "I don't remember. I just remember waking up in the hospital."

                I swallow a lump in my throat and sit up. "What if Gaara told her about me and now she hates me and possibly wants to kill me."

                "Gaara doesn't write, text, call, or contact them in any way, shape, or form. You're safe."

                "Okay, then what about Kankuro?"

                "He's an odd one. He always wears purple face paint everyday. I've only seen him without it on once. Besides his weird obsession with his face paint and his puppets he's pretty laid back. You won't have to worry about him much."

                "That's a relief."

                "Are you planning on visiting him when he gets settled in?"                 

"Eventually." I lean myself back on the fence next to the raven haired boy.

                "Did you hear the announcement this morning?"                 

"No. I never listen to them."

                "There's a homecoming dance this Friday."

                "Oh joy."

                "Not a fan?"

                "Not in the slightest."

                "So you wouldn't even go if I asked you to?"                 "Well ... I ..."

                "It'll be fun, I promise. Remember the last time I said that, it actually was fun." I think about it for a minute and look to him. "Will you go to the dance with me Naruto?"

                I sigh in defeat. "Okay, but I have a bad feeling about this."

                "It'll be fine, I promise."

                I couldn't help but smile at Sasuke's confidence. "I'm sure it will."

XXXXX

                "I can't believe you would do that to them." He growled as he pushed me up against the wall to the bathroom. He held me there so I couldn't move as the other two stood behind him.

                "That's not even close to what happened." I snap back trying to push the boy off.

                "Lying doesn't get you anywhere." He pushed harder on my throat making it hard to breath.

                "I'm not ... lying!" I glare at him grabbing and pulling at his hand around my throat.

                "I don't believe you. You would blame it on him just to save your own ass!"

                "I wouldn't kill my own mother! I was actually starting to like her."

                "Would you stop lying. We all know you hated her. Now you went and killed her making your dad suffer for it. How would you like it if we took something precious to you?"

                "That's not even close to what happened. But the thing is, all my life I've gotten everything precious to me taken away."

                "Well then how about we take something else." He pulled out a knife and slowly brought it to my neck with a nasty smirk. "Your life."

                "Taking something so worthless means absolutely nothing."

                "You're right. You are worthless. I'd be doing the whole world a favor by getting rid of this trash."

                "Maybe you're right. Go ahead. Kill me. It would probably help everything."

                "What are you? Suicidal?" He pushes the knife harder against my throat.

                "No, but I'm also not denying that me being killed is bad."

                "So you aren't just suicidal, you're suicidal and crazy. We have a crazy suicidal idiot standing before us gentlemen. It's no wonder the Uchiha has taken a liking to it. Normally it's differences attract, but in this case it's similars attract. How odd." I narrow my eyes and furrow my brows grabbing his wrist.

                "What are you calling Sasuke?"

                The boy looks back to me raising an eyebrow and smirking as he looks at my hand. "What? Did I strike a nerve? I'm just calling it how it is. He's only an emo bastard that deserves nothing but hatred and possibly death. People that like him are idiots." All of a sudden he was on his ass holding his cheek. I clench my fist and look down at him with a menacing glare. All three of them were in shock.

                "Don't you _dare_ say anything bad about Sasuke in front of me."

                "I can't believe you had the gall to actually punch me. What happened to the old you that couldn't do shit?"

                "He's gone."

                "I see that. That just makes this ten times more fun." He stands up rubbing his cheek one last time before immediately punching me making me fall into the wall. "Come on, I bet even the prick Uchiha could hit better than that."

                "You know what. You can tease me, harass me, beat on me, make fun of me, threaten me, but when you do anything, or say anything bad about my friends or family ... that's where you cross the line."

                "What? Are you talking about that faggot friend of yours? What's her name? Kiba? She's your friend, right? And lets not forget to mention the asshole Uchiha. The pineapples for brains English teacher and pineapple brain's fuck toy. The one eyed fucker. Oh, almost forgot the nerd. Shikamaru is it? Yeah, I'm promising you that he won't live for too much longer, but don't worry, it'll be a slow and painful death. All because he's your friend."

                In less than a second, I was on top of him pounding him in the face. By the time his friends got me off of him, I broke his nose and a soon to be black eye. I also probably knocked a couple of teeth loose. He stood up wiping the blood from his face and punched me in the gut. He tried to do it again, but I jump up and kick him backwards. I then shake the other two off punching one in the face making him hit his head off of a stall and fall to the floor. I turn around to deal with the other one, but he pushed me down and hit me a couple of times before I twisted him, flipping our positions so I could beat his face in.

                Suddenly I got tackled off of the other one in mid swing. I got tackled into the garbage can making it fall over on top of is sending paper towels scattering all over the floor. I wrestled around with the one who tackled me until I regained victorious and punched him in the throat. I stood up grabbing him and hitting his face off of the sink. I turn him around and was about to punch him again, but I was grabbed. I go to punch the person behind me, but they catch my fist and pulled me close. My breathing came in shallow gasps. Who..? I turn my head slightly to see raven colored hair. Sasuke? He lets go of me and looks in the eyes.

                "I..." I furrow my brows and make sure not to look at his face. "I didn't ... mean for this to happen."

                "Naruto it's fine, you obviously had a reason. You didn't even hear me say your name, did you?" I look at him confused and shake my head. "Okay, let's clean up here and get you out of here."

                "What happened in here?" A very agitated voice said from the entrance. I turn around to see a teacher with a very displeased look on his face.

                "I did this." Sasuke says without hesitation and stood in front of me.

                "Uchiha. Why does that not surprise me. You clean this up and come with me."

                "Wait Mr. S-" Sasuke covered my mouth and the teacher glared at me.

                "What are you doing in here Uzumaki?" Sasuke let go of me, but he gave me a warning glare. I advert my eyes and look at the ground.

                "I was actually the one who did all of this."

                "... okay, yeah right. Hurry up Uchiha."        

                Could he not see how beat up I am and how unscathed Sasuke is? "Would you listen to me! I said I did-"

                "Naruto. Enough." Sasuke said with venom in his voice.

                "Fine, Uzumaki. If you want to take credit for Uchiha then so be it. Come with me. Uchiha, you are still cleaning this up." Sasuke grabbed my wrist, but I walk away with the teacher. I know Sasuke is probably mad at me, but I couldn't let him take the credit for something that he didn't do. The teacher ends up taking me to the principle's office. Yeah, I expected as much. I knock on the door and I hear a faint 'enter', so I do.

                "Hey Tsunade! Long time no see!"

                "Naruto? Please tell me you're here for something good."

                "Uhaha ... well ... you see ... not really."

                "Naruto. You were doing so good. What happened?" She sighed and set down her pen.

                "These boys in the bathroom. They were bullying me and one pulled a knife on me and held it to my throat. They also insulted and threatened my friends and family, so I punched them."

                "Wait, one of them pulled a knife on you?"

                "Yeah, they threatened to kill me. They said that they'd be doing the world a favor by killing me and some other things."

                "What boys?"

                "Uhm ... I don't actually know. I've only seen them once. I do think I know the one who had the knife though. I think it was ... uhm ... Kagura."

                "Kagura. Why does that not surprise me. I'll have him come down later, but as much as I don't want to do this, I'm going to have to suspend you for at least one day and I am going to have to tell your parents."

                "Just call down Iruka. I live with him now."

                "I was informed." She picks up the phone and calls down to Iruka's room. "Iruka. It's about Naruto, he- no wait ... Iruka. Iruka?" She purses her lips to the side and hangs up. "So he's on his way." I slightly smile and shake my head. "Naruto, com over here for a second so I can look at your neck."

                "But he didn't cut me." I reach up and feel my neck. There was a warm substance. Okay, so maybe he did. I stand up and go to Tsunade's side. I tilt my head up and she looks at the wound. As she was doing that, Iruka bursts through the door. Well that was fast.

                "Naruto! What happened? Are you okay? How-"

                "Iruka." Tsunade snaps.

                "Sorry." He looks to the floor looking like a little puppy that had just got scolded. She lets go of my chin and I look at her.

                "It's not very bad at all. It just scratched the surface of the skin. A little deeper at the one side where you're bleeding. You should be fine though. I still want you to go on down to Shizune and get fixed up though."

                "Okay. Want me to go now?"         

                "Yes. Come back here when you're done." I nod and pass the now freaking out Iruka. He really needs a chill pill. I walk down to the nurses office. When I go inside Shizune looked up and her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

                "What happened to you?"

                "Long story." I nervously laugh and scratch the back of my head. "Tsunade sent me here so you could help. She probably just wanted to talk to Iruka alone though. I'm not even hurt that bad."

                "Well if she sent you down then I should probably at least fix up your neck and your forehead." I look at my reflection in the mirror and see blood. Well shit. How'd that get there? She stands up and takes me to the back. She gets some stuff and brings it over to me. She wets a rag and cleans up my face and throat before she puts some bandages on my forehead and throat. When she finished I spent a while there until Tsunade called down and had me come back. When I get down there, Iruka just walks out of her office.

                "Explain everything to me on the way home." He walked past me. He didn't seem angry, but that doesn't mean that he really isn't.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Suspension**

                "Iruka, I have a question." I walk up to him and he turns to look at me.

                "What is it?"

                "Would it be okay if I went out today?"

                "Absolutely not."

                "But why not?"

                "You're suspended, Naruto. You stay home. Do your homework. Be good. You don't get a reward for getting suspended."

                "If I can't leave, can someone come over here?"

                "No."

                "Oh come on Iruka."

                "No."

                "But what if-"

                "No."

                "What if I-"

                "No."

                "What about-"

                "No."

                "Then how about-"

                "Naruto."

                "Fine. I'll just sit in my room and do nothing. Woo! I already feel the excitement exuding out of me as we speak." I say this with overdramatic sarcasm as I walk back to my room. I could hear him sigh deeply and turn to me grabbing my shoulder. I turn around and look up at him. He had a very disgruntling look on his face, almost like he was having a fight with himself over something or that he looked like he was going to regret the next thing that he was about to do. "Yes?"

                "You can have ... someone up today, but I don't know who you are going to have up because everyone is going to be in school."

                "Really? You're the best Iruka!" I quickly hug him then back up. "Oh yeah! Do you think you could maybe ... buy me a ticket for the dance this Friday?"                 "Dance? You want to go to a dance? With who? Kiba?"

                "No, uhm ... Sasuke asked me."

                "I see. Wait. Isn't it if you get suspended in the same week as any school event that you won't be allowed to participate in school activities?"

                "What?! Really?!"

                "Iruka looked at me worriedly. "You really want to go, don't you?"

                "Yes. I don't want to tell Sasuke I can't go all because I was stupid." I glare at the ground and turn my head away from Iruka. "He would be so mad at me. Not that I could blame him, I'd be a little upset too. I really am nothing but some useless trash." I whisper the last part practically to myself. I feel Iruka's hands on my shoulders but I don't bother to look up.

                "Don't you dare think about yourself like that Naruto. You have a meaning to your life. You will grow up to do great things. Younger and older people alike will look up to you. I promise you. As for Sasuke, if he gets mad at you over something so trivial he's not worth your time." He removes his hands from me and I look up at him. "I will talk to Tsunade to see what we can do about you." Iruka smiles and pats my head messing up my hair even more than it already was, if that was even possible. My expression slowly went from upset to overjoyed when I realized what Iruka had just said. "I'm not making any promises that you'll be able to- ugh!" I quickly pull him into a tight hug. I felt him faintly chuckle and pat my head once more. I let go when I heard a knock on the door. Who could that be? I walk over to the door with Iruka. I stand behind him as he opens it revealing Kakashi. A very ... very tired looking Kakashi.

                "Yo." Kakashi does a half-assed wave. It was pretty pathetic to be called a wave, but considering that it's Kakashi, in the morning, way, way earlier then he normally ever gets up (in morning standards), and it's just Kakashi, it was a pretty decent good morning attempt.

                "Kakashi, I wasn't expecting you until later." Iruka says with disbelief that he is really here so early.

                "Well I woke up early so I could get you to the school at your normal time." Iruka smiled and leaned closer to Kakashi, pulling him mask down and kissing him for a second before pulling away and fixing his mask. I tired my best to see his face ... I failed.

                "Come on in, I won't take long." Iruka leaves us and Kakashi smiles stepping inside.

                "Totally worth waking up an hour early." Kakashi smiles leaning himself on the wall behind him. He looks over to me raising his eyebrow ... well I think he raised both, but I can only ever see one because he always has the damn one covered. "What are you planning on doing today? Going anywhere?"

                "No. Iruka said I couldn't go anywhere."

                "That's a bummer. You know, Sasuke is staying home sick today. I look over to him and arch a brow. "He's not really sick. He's actually probably planning on stopping in once he knows for sure Iruka and I are gone." My eyes widen and I go to say something but Iruka comes out.

                "I'm ready. Let's go." He walks over to us opening the door and looking back at me. "Be good. Have a good day. I love you." He smiles then leaves.

                "Oh, he'll have a good day alright." Kakashi smirks and leaves closing the door behind him.

                I felt my face redden. I stood there for a couple minutes not entirely sure what I should really be doing. I could maybe ... do the dishes? No they're all done. Laundry? Iruka did it all last night. Uhm ... uhm ... oh I don't know. I don't really have anything to actually do right now that I can think of.

                I turn around and immediately regret it. I back up so fast and hit the door. I grab my shirt where my heart is and fall to the floor. Oh. My. God. I look up and see my bastard of a boyfriend laughing his ass off. Kakashi told me that he was coming, but he didn't tell me that he was coming so soon. I narrow my eyes and stand up. I grab the collar of his shirt and push him to the wall.

                "That was not funny teme! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

                He finally started to stop laughing. He brought a hand up and wiped away a tear that was rolling down his cheek as he sighed in satisfactory. "Are you really that mad over it?"

                "...No. I was at first, but I'm over it. I'm just going to have to get you back sometime."

                "Get me back? Hn." He pushes off the wall and gets close to my ear whispering. "I like the sound of that." He then walks past me smirking. "I should probably tell you though," I turn and face him. "I'm not an easy person to scare."

                "I'll think of something. Everyone is scared of something. I promise you I'll do it."

                "Promise?"

                "You better believe it!"

                "I'll hold you to that then." He stops doing whatever he was doing and looks at me furrowing his brows. He walks closer and stares me in the eyes.

                "W-what is it?"

                "You look extremely exhausted."

                "Oh! Yeah well I haven't been sleeping well lately. I think I got a total of on hour of sleep over the past couple days."

                "Why haven't you been sleeping well?"

                "I don't know. It's started ever since my mom was killed."

                "I take it you're having dreams that keep you from sleeping?"

                "Yeah, but it's no big deal."

                "If you want, I could try to help you sleep." My eyes go wide and I step back. What is he implying? He chuckles shaking his head. "Not like that dobe. I was thinking more along the lines of the comfort of someone being with you."

                "So like ... what? Cuddling?"

                Sasuke looks away clearly displeased with what I had just said. "Just don't call it that and I'll do it."

                I smirk and step closer to him. Before I say anything I stop myself. "It's fine, really. I'm not as tired as I look, really." It wasn't a lie. I was actually not tired at all. If I was tired even slightly it probably would be because I just woke up a little while ago. "How about we go watch tv or something. I never got to do it much in the past couple years. I wonder what new shows are on. Maybe we could find a movie or something." I walk into the living room and grab the tv remote before sitting on the couch. Sasuke soon followed and sat next to me. I turn on the tv and look down at the remote. Okay, now what? Sasuke must have caught the confusion before he offered help.

                "Do you want me to do it?"

                "Uh ... yeah." Now I feel stupid. I can't even work a tv. How does Sasuke even want to be with me?

                I hand him the remote and lean in the opposite direction away from Sasuke so I was leaning on the arm rest. Sasuke navigated through the channels until we found a movie that we both agreed on. I don't know why I agreed on to this movie. It's a horror movie. I hate horror movies, but Sasuke looked so happy about it that I just couldn't say no. Every time something popped out of the middle of nowhere I jumped and scooted closer to Sasuke. Eventually I was leaning on him. He moved his arm out from under me and wrapped it around my shoulders making me fall onto him even more. I didn't bother to move since it was actually pretty comfortable. I could feel my eyes grow heavy half way through the movie and I was having a hard time keeping them open. I eventually lost the battle and my eyes shut. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get a little more sleep.

XXXXX

               I look around, but everything was pitch black. Where am I? I turn around in circles but it was all black. I look down at me hands. I can see them. I look back up confused. I try to walk forward but I hit something. I feel around me. A box? Am I in a box? I felt my breathing become slightly more panicked. What is this? I suddenly hear something muffled so I push my ear to the wall in front of me.

                "Nar-" I try and focus more, but nothing happened. Is someone there? I open my mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. That's when I started to panic a little more. "Naruto..." I look up wide eyed, but I still saw nothing. What is going on? I try to say something again slightly more panicked. When nothing came out I start to breath a little more rapidly. I lean back and hold my chest. I can't call for help. I can't ask what is going on. I can't ask who's there. I can't speak. I can't do anything.

                "Calm down Naruto." The voice was familiar. All of a sudden everything around me became blindingly bright. I cringe and blink a couple times to get used to the light. When I could finally see again I saw Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba and Shikamaru. They were all standing there smiling ... but Sasuke. Sasuke was frowning. "This is for the best Naruto." Sasuke said this then smiled. "Just know that by getting rid of you everything will get better. I hope you understand." They all wave and keep smiling. All of a sudden I was falling with the box still around me. The next thing I knew is that I hit water. The force from hitting the water made me hit my head off the wall of the box. The box cracked where my head hit it and I started to sink. The deeper I got the more pressure was put on the box making the crack grow bigger and bigger letting in more and more water by the second. This cannot be happening. They all can't abandon me! I need them! No! Get me out of this box! I start to pound on the walls not thinking about anything besides trying to get free. That's when the box breaks sending water and glass plummeting in, sending me into the darkness yet again.

                I jolt up breathing heavily with tears about to escape my eyes. I felt a cool hand on mine and I look down and notice that I was giving Sasuke's leg the death grip. I slowly release it and look Sasuke in the eyes. I must look like some terrified lost puppy right now. Sasuke carefully wraps his arms around me and hugged me comfortingly.

                "I don't know what you dreamt of, but I can assure you that everything is alright now." I close my eyes and hug him back. Why is this happening? It's so frustrating! I felt a tear roll down my cheek so I burry my face into his shoulder. I'm so sick of these nightmares.

                After a little while I pull myself away from Sasuke.   "I ... I'm sorry ... I don't know why this keeps happening."

                "You don't have to apologize Naruto. You can't control your dreams." He put his hand on my face and frowned. "You're really warm right now. You're sweating too. Why don't you go take a shower. Maybe it'll calm you down and make you feel better."

                "No, I'll be fine. I just need a moment." I lean back and Sasuke pulls me close so I could rest my head on him. "How long was I asleep?"

                "About five hours." Five hours? Wow. I look over to the clock on the wall. It was already noon. "Naruto. The reason you got suspended. What did they do to provoke you?"

                "They started making fun of you, then they started making fun of all my other friends and Iruka. They also threatened to kill Shikamaru. I kind of lost my cool and punched them and it just went downhill from there."

                "They threatened to kill Shikamaru?"            

                "Yeah. Don't do anything to them though Sasuke. I don't want you to get into any trouble like I did. It's already bad enough that I might not be able to go to the dance this Friday. I don't want you to not be allowed to go too."

                "You aren't allowed to go?"

                "Well Iruka is going to talk to Tsunade today to see if I can go, but I might not be able to since I got suspended."

                "It'll be fine, she'll let you go."

                "How can you be so sure?"

                "Tsunade knows that you were only protecting yourself. She'll let you go."

                "I hop you're right." I sigh and close my eyes for a minute. After a few minutes of nothing but the noise of the tv, there was a knock on the door. My eyes slowly open and I get up.

                "Do you want me to get it?"

                "No, I got it." I walk over to the door and open it. A guy was standing there. He had orange spiky hair with a lot of piercings throughout his face. Behind him was a girl with purple hair. "Uhm ... may I help you?"

                "Yes. We would like you to come with us." I close the door slightly. I was getting creeped out by this.

                "I'm sorry. You guys must have the wrong house." I try and close the door but the man put his hand in the way. He pushed it open until he could see me again.

                "You are Uzumaki Naruto, are you not?"

                "..." What do I say to that? Lie? What if they catch on to the lie? What would they do? I just need to close the door and call Iruka. I hope Sasuke brought his cell phone with him. "Sorry I don't know any Naruto." I try to shut the door again and he keeps it open.

                "Is this not Iruka Umino's home? We were informed that Uzumaki Naruto now lives with him."

                "No ... nope, not his house. Go try down the street. I think he lives down there." I yet again try to close the door and fail.

                "I will only ask this once more, so think wisely of your response. Are you, or are you not, Uzumaki Naruto. Son on Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina?" Fuck. Okay, calm down. They obviously already know that I'm Naruto, so there's no point in hiding it anymore.

                "What do you want me for?" I tighten my grip on the door handle. How do they know me? What do they want?

                "We want you to come with us peacefully. We don't want to cause a scene." I see something shine so I look to the man's neck. He was wearing a necklace of a red cloud. I look past him to the girl. She had on the same necklace. Is there some semblance to that necklace or something?

                "I'm not going anywhere if you don't tell me why you want me to go with you."

                "We cannot tell you."

                "Then I'm afraid that I cannot go. And besides, I'm prohibited to leave my house today. Sorry, now if you don't mind." I try to close the door, but he opens it all the way making it slam to the wall making a loud crack. My eyes go wide and I step back.

                "I tried to tell you we didn't want to cause a scene, but I guess this is the only way." He steps inside walking towards me as I walk backwards.

                "U-uh ... S-Sasuke ... problem ... big problem!" I heat something move from the living room. I look over and see Sasuke nowhere in sight. What the hell? Where is he? Don't tell me he left me here alone. I look around panicked. Okay. What to do. What to do. Maybe I should just run. As I continued to walk backwards, I run into something. It grabs my shoulders and moved me behind it.

                "Now what could you possibly want with Naruto, hmm?" This isn't Sasuke. Who is this?! I immediately jump backwards away from the person in front of me. I look up and see blond hair. Deidara? What the hell is he doing here?! My eyes widen. Oh-no. Itachi. Is he here? Sasuke. Oh shit. Oh-no. Not good. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I have to find Sasuke. And possibly Itachi. What if they ran into each other. Shit! "Naruto, go find Sasuke."

                "Is Itachi here? Wait, why are you even here? Where is Sasuke?"

                "Calm down. I know you have a lot of questions, but I can't answer them right now. You just need to go find Sasuke ... make sure that they don't kill each other." Kill ... each other? Great. I run down the hall looking in every room until I get to mine. I burst through the door and see Sasuke pushing Itachi to a wall. They seriously didn't think this through at all, did they? Those idiots. Why didn't Deidara go get Sasuke? Why did they even need to get Sasuke in the first place?

                I run over to Sasuke and struggle to pull him off of Itachi. When I finally got him at least far enough away for Itachi to move out of arms length I stop pulling him back. I do my best to keep him still, but it was a lot harder than it looked. I quickly wrapped my arms around his arms and chest so that he would stop struggling. It didn't work so I squeezed him tighter.

                "Sasuke, calm down!" He soon faintly relaxed, but I didn't let go of him because I could still see the murderous look in his eyes.

                "What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke growled.

                "Look, I'll explain everything some other time, but right now you both need to get out of here."

                "No! Explain now!"

                "Sasuke we have to listen to him, someone is here."

                "I don't care."

                "They are here for me! And I really don't think it's just to say hello either."

                He looked to me then looked away. "Ugh! Dammit!" He grabbed my arm and ran to the window quickly opening it and jumped out. I look at Itachi once more before I jump out the window. Sasuke grabs my hand and sprints down the road. I look back but my house was soon out of view. I grab Sasuke's hand tighter and he squeezes back. Why is this happening? Who were they? We stop running when we got to Sasuke's house. We get inside and I fall onto the couch with Sasuke.

                "We ... have to call the police ... or something." I huff still out of breath.

                "Don't bother. Whatever the hell happened back there they are probably long gone once they found out that you were gone."

                "What if they don't know that I left? They'd still be there."

                "I'm sure that Itachi and explosive nut already left so therefore piercing guy and flower girl fled before the police would show up if someone happened to call them. Trust me, they're gone." I looked up to Sasuke since I was leaning on him. He looked royally pissed off.

                "Are you mad at me?"

                "No."

                "Are you sure? You look really pissed about something."

                "It's fine Naruto."

                "But you-"

                "I said it's fine Naruto!"

                I flinch and sit up looking at him with wide eyes. "Sorry, I'm going to uhm ... go take a shower now." I slowly stand up and make my way down to the bathroom. I didn't really need a shower, but Sasuke needed to be alone right now. I close the door and lean against it. Maybe I shouldn't push him, if he wants to tell me about it then he will. I walk over to the shower and turn it on. I open the closet and grab a towel setting it on the sink. I take off my clothes and get in.

                There must be more to why Sasuke hates Itachi. He can't hate him this much over just that, can he? I mean, yeah he killed my parents, but he did it for him. He was only trying to protect him. Did Itachi break some kind of promise or something? Now that I think about it, Kakashi did mention that the one person that Sasuke trusted did something to break his trust or something along those lines a long time ago. I wonder of that person was Itachi. If it is, then what did he do that was so bad?

                I close my eyes and put my head under the water. I push my hair off of my face and move out from beneath the water. I take a deep breath and sigh crossing my arms. I wonder how long Sasuke is going to stay angry at me. I wasn't really expecting him to snap at me like that. For a second I was actually kind of afraid of him. I shake my head and turn off the water accidentally bumping into something making it along with a couple other things fall. I look down to my feet and pick up the bottles that I knocked over. I then bend back down and pick up the razor that fell as well, but as I was standing back up, I slipped.

                I clench my fists and catch myself on the wall. I wince at the sudden sharp pain in my hand. I push myself up and slowly turn my hand over to see blood coming out of a cut on my palm. Really. Just great. I set the razor back where it belonged after rinsing it off and I step out of the shower. I put my hand under the faucet and turn on the water. I make a small wince at the immediate sting, but when the blood was gone I turned off the water. I grabbed the towel wrapping it around my waist. I look around the bathroom for something to possibly stop the bleeding. I look over to the wall and see toilet paper. I think about it for a second before shrugging and ripping some off and pressing it on the wound. Suddenly I hear a know on the door.

                "Uhm ... yes?" I say a little warily.

                "You've been in there for almost an hour, I'm starting to think you're avoiding me."

                "I'm not avoiding you. I'm just ... giving you some space."

                "Space?" I look over to the door when I hear it being opened. At least I had a towel on.

                "You kind of snapped at me so I thought you wanted space."

                "That's what I wanted to talk about. I really didn't mean to yell at you. I just lost my temper for a second. I didn't mean to scare you. I was just conflicted is all."

                "It's fine, I wasn't that scared."

                "You were shaking."

                "I was not."

                "You were slightly trembling."

                "I was?"

                "Yes. Naruto ... why is there blood on that?"

                I follow his gaze to my hand. "Oh that. I slipped and got cut." I nervously laugh and look back at him. He didn't look very amused.

                "Let me see it." He sighed. I removed the toilet paper and held out my left hand palm up. "You really are clumsy." He cleans the wound off once more before putting a band aid on it and then wrapped it with a bandage wrap so it would stay on. When he was done he held my hand there for a moment longer looking at something. That's when I noticed that my scars were on that arm. I quickly pull my arm away and walk past him.

                "Thanks for that." I smile and grab my clothes slipping my underwear and shorts on and I slide my towel off. I set down the towel in the hamper and grab my shirt putting it on.

                "You know that you don't have to hide it from me."

                "Hide what?" I leave the bathroom and make my way to his room claiming his bed. Sasuke wasn't far behind. He sat at the foot of his bed and I laid back putting my hands behind my head.

                "You know what I'm talking about Naruto, don't make me say it."

                "It's not that I'm hiding it. I just don't want to remember."

                "I know how you feel." He laid back next to me.

                "Yeah, but you've never cut yourself." I cringe internally saying that out loud.

                "Oh? I haven't? I guess it was all just a dream that I had and I woke up with the scars." I look over to him kind of surprised. He's..?

                "You've ..?"

                "Yeah. It's been along time though." Sasuke sat up and started to do something so I sat up to see what he was doing. He was talking off his glove thing. "The reason I wear these gloves all the time is because I want to hide them." He turns his arm over revealing many scars running up his arm. There was one running vertically along his arm. I look to him when he puts his glove back on.

                "You tired to commit suicide?"

                "... I'm not proud of it, but yeah."

                "Why?" I say in a whisper.

                "I don't know. I guess I was just sick of it all. I was stupid, younger, naive, rebellious. I wasn't thinking. I didn't think it would get better and honestly it didn't. Not until this year anyway. My parents sent me here to Kakashi because of many reasons, my suicide attempt being one of them. I'm not saying that it all got better because of you, but you definitely had to do with it." Before I could say anything, there was a noise coming from downstairs. I look over to the door with wide eyes. I then slowly look over to Sasuke who looked just as confused.

                "What was that?"

                "I'm not sure, why don't you go check it out."

                What? Why me? Why don't you go? You're the one claiming he never gets scared."

                "Then how about we both go."

                "...Fine." We both stand up and walk over to the door. I step behind Sasuke as we step out of his room. There was another noise only this one was louder. I grab onto the back of Sasuke's shirt as we continue to walk. When we reach the stairs we quickly, but carefully, went down them. Sasuke put his back to the wall and slowly looked around the corner to the kitchen. He then looked back to me putting a finger to his mouth and motioned for me to follow him. He looked around the corner and stiffened. He slowly walked into the kitchen and we did a quick search. No one was there. I glance over to Sasuke, he looked extremely furious.

                I decide to go back out of the kitchen and into the living room. As soon as I stepped into the living room a hand grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down to the ground. I open my eyes and see Sasuke hovering over me pinning me to the ground. He's lucky he covered my mouth, or I probably would have screamed. He moved his hand from my mouth and looked down at me.

                "Have you two no modesty?" We both tense up and my eyes go wide. I move my head over to see Kakashi standing behind us leaning on the wall. I released a breath of air that I didn't know I was holding. "What are you two doing here anyway? I though you weren't allowed to leave your house Naruto." Sasuke stands up offering me a hand. I grab it and he pulls me up. I turn to Kakashi and them to Sasuke. Sasuke seemed like he was about to beat the living shit out of Kakashi. I reach down and grab his hand giving it a squeeze.

                "We had to leave my house. There was someone there that was trying to take me somewhere. I refused then they tried to force me to come with them. Then ... well ... some people came and helped us escape. Now were here."

                "What did these people look like?" 

                "One was a girl with purple hair, the man had orange hair and a lot of piercings throughout his face. They both had a necklace on too. It had some red cloud thing on it." Kakashi's eye hardened and he stood up straight.

                "The Akatsuki are finally going after you huh? Great."

                "They were the Akatsuki?" I glare at the thought and squeezed Sasuke's hand. He squeezes back and pulls me closer.

                "Yes, I thought this day would come, but I never would have guessed it would have been so soon. Naruto, I need you to listen to me. I'm not saying this to scare you, I'm saying this to protect you. The Akatsuki are going to try and kill you. You cannot and will not go anywhere without someone else with you. Do you understand?" I nod. "Good, now if worse comes to worse them your parents themselves gave me orders to do whatever means necessary to protect you. And if that means that you have to move then so be it." Sasuke pulled me back stepping in front of me.

                "He isn't going anywhere, so don't even think about it." Sasuke growled.

                "Would you rather he die?" Kakashi said in a calm voice.

                "You know the answer to that." He snapped.

                "Then why do you want to continue to put his life at risk? But never mind that, it isn't even a worry yet. All I want from you Naruto is to be even more cautious than before. And if you must be alone for some unknown reason then you better have your guard up times ten."

                "Why are they after me?"

                "Because they fear that you'll be like your parents, if not worse."

                "They think I'll come after them?"

                "Yes."

                "They're smart." I step out from behind Sasuke and they both give me an odd look.

                "You were thinking about going after them?" Sasuke turns and faces me letting go of my hand.

                "Well not anytime soon. Ever since I talked to Kiba about what we wanted to do when we were older I started thinking about being something like and FBI special agent or something. Neither of you say anything. I'm only thinking about it. It's not set in stone or anything." Sasuke furrows his brows about to say something and Kakashi was just smiling. Why? I had no idea.

                "Aiming high are we? Well whatever you choose to do you can count on me to back you up ... as long as it's not burglary or something like that." Kakashi said walking over to the door. "I have to go, I'm probably late for class already. You two be really careful. Stay here until I get back."

                "Wait, why did you come back in the first place?"

                "I had a free period and I forgot my papers." He held up some papers and smiled. "I'll see you boys later." He then leaves.

                "An FBI special agent, huh?"

                I look back over to him. He was leaning on the back of the couch. "Don't try and persuade me otherwise, Sasuke."

                "No, actually I'm kind of intrigued. It sounds fun, maybe I'll do it too. I mean, someone has to make sure you don't kill yourself, right?" He smirked at me and I smile and playfully hit his arm.

                "If anyone would die, it'd be you Mr. Cocky Pants."

                "Is that so? I guess we'll have to wait and see."

                "Then when I win, I'll make sure to kill the person who killed you."

                "And when _I_ win, I'll make sure to kill the person that killed _you._ " I smile and hold out my hand.

                "It's a deal then."

                He pauses for a moment before closing his eyes and smirking and shaking my hand. "Hn. You're such a dobe."

XXXXX

                So apparently Kakashi dealt with the whole Akatsuki thing. The rest of the night Iruka wouldn't leave me alone until I went to bed or I went to the bathroom. Now I'm in English talking to Sasuke and getting into trouble for not paying attention. Iruka threatens to move us, but we both know he won't so we continue to talk.

                "He's seriously going to kill us." I smile.

                "Nah, it'll be okay. He wouldn't think about moving either of us."

                "You're probably right. Oh! I don't think I told you. Iruka talked to Tsunade and I'm allowed to go to the dance. He bought my ticket yesterday."

                "I guess that means that I better go buy my ticket.

                "Uchiha! Uzumaki! If I have to tell you two to be quiet one more time then you'll regret it!"

                "Okay, we'll listen." Sasuke says in a smart-ass remark making Iruka glare. "Go on, continue. You've got my undivided attention." Sasuke puts his elbows on his desk and rested his head in his hands with a playful smirk on his face. Iruka narrowed his eyes and continued to talk. Poor Iruka. I never do this in any of my other classes, granted that Sasuke isn't in most of them. If he was then I'd probably be getting into a lot more trouble.

                Since Sasuke was now paying a little ... too much attention to Iruka, he was asking a lot of irrelevant questions making Iruka get quite angry. Iruka eventually gave up and told him to go back to not paying attention.

XXXXX

                "You're coming over to my house today after school. I hope you didn't make any plans with lover boy. I was going to tell you yesterday, but you went and got suspended." Kiba leans next to my locker as I put my books away.

                "Why am I coming over exactly?"

                "Because we're going to hang out with Shikamaru one last time before he leaves, it's like a little going away party if you want to call it that." I close my locker and look at him.

                "Then shall we go? I could have Kakashi drop us off on his way home. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

                "If you want to ask him then okay."

                "Okay, we have to hurry to his room before he leaves right now." I grab his hand and quickly run/walk to his room. As soon as I open the door I run into someone. I back up to see who it was. "Oh, hey Sasuke." I see his eyes dart to Kiba and then to our joined hands. I quickly drop Kiba's hand. "Is Kakashi in there?"

                "He is indeed. What do you two need?" Kakashi says pushing past Sasuke.

                "I was wondering if you could take us to Kiba's house on your way home."

               "Sure, I don't mind." I look over at Sasuke and see that he was glaring at Kiba. I look back to Kiba and see that he is glaring back. "Okay you three, let's go." Sasuke wrapped his arm around my shoulders and started walking. Kiba caught up and walked next to me. When we got to the car I sat in the back with Sasuke and Sasuke made Kiba sit up front with Kakashi. "Okay, where is it?"

                "It's the gray house on the beginning of your street." I say since Kiba didn't really know where they lived. Kakashi started driving. We got there in a couple of minutes, but the whole time in the car you could feel the tension between Sasuke and Kiba. Why are they so mad at each other? When we pull into Kiba's driveway I look at Kakashi. "Thanks for taking us here."

                "No problem. I'll see you two in school." I look over to Sasuke to say bye, but it turns out that he had a different idea on how to say goodbye. He pulled me close planting his lips on mine. I couldn't help but kiss back. He was a really food kisser and he's really attractive, not to mention he's my boyfriend. We were about to get really into it until I remembered where we were. I pull away and I feel my face flush a bright red and Sasuke smirks.

                "I'll see you tomorrow then." I say in a rushed tone and quickly get out of the car. I make my way to the door with Kiba and go inside. What was with that kiss? Why did he do that? Not saying that I didn't enjoy it, but it was really shocking and random. We make our way into the living room and we sit on the couch.

                "Sorry about that uh ... kiss. I wasn't expecting it."     

                "I was."

                "You were?"

                "Yeah, it's one of his ways of telling me that I need to keep my paws off."

                "But he knows that we're only friends."

                "Maybe, but he thinks of me as a threat."

                "I'll tell him to clam down if you'd like."

                "No it's fine, I don't want you two to get into a fight over me. Anywho, Shikamaru should be here soon then we can relax and have fin just like we used to."

                "Kiba? Is that you?" Tsume walks into the living room. "Shikamaru not here yet? Oh hello Naruto, I didn't see you there." She warmly smiles to me.

                "Hello Mrs. Inuzuka."

                "Now, how many times have I told you. You don't need to be so formal with me. Call me Tsume."

                "Right, I'll keep that in mind." I smile and look at Kiba.

                "Did you order the pizza?" Kiba questions sitting up.

                "No, I was waiting until 4:30 so it would be here around five o'clock for dinner."

                "Alright."

                "Oh, Kiba. Are you going to the dance this Friday?"

                "Yeah, Shino asked me."

                "So I guess you two fixed out whatever problems you had?"

                "Yeah, he wasn't so much mad at me but at his family."

                "Then why didn't he want to talk or even touch you?"

                "He said he just didn't want to hurt me."

                "Well I'm glad it wasn't something you did."

                "Same. Wait, you guys started dating on the first of October didn't you?"

                "Yeah, so?"

                "That's only a couple of days from your birthday, meaning your birthday is really soon. It's the third now so there's only..." Kiba counted his fingers to see how many days were left until my birthday. "Six more days! You'll be seventeen. How are you and Sasuke planning on celebrating?" He winks at me and I smile.

                "Not like that ... I don't think. It'll probably just be a normal birthday."

                "Oh come on Naruto, you finally get a boyfriend, not to mention how hot he is, and you don't want to do anything with him?"

                "Well yeah I want to, but it's way to soon. We just started dating three days ago. There is no reason to rush things."

                "Okay, I understand. But you won't think that when he's on top of you ready to tango." Kiba laughs as I hit him with a pillow. I smile and shake my head. The doorbell rings.

                "I'll get it." I stand up still smiling at the thought of Sasuke smirking down at me with those eyes. I hate Kiba for putting these thoughts in my head. I open the door and see Shikamaru standing there with his hands in his pockets. "Hey Shikamaru." I step aside and he nods and steps inside. We walk in to the living room and I clam my seat again while Shikamaru claims the seat in between Kiba and I.

                "What were you guys talking about before I got here? I feel like I interrupted something."

                "Oh the normal stuff, this time it just happened to be about Naruto getting laid on his birthday."

                "I told you I'm not." I look over to Shikamaru. He was smiling.

                "Of course that would be normal to you guys. You always did have a strange idea of what normal was."

                "Well what do you consider normal?"

                "No that." He laughs. "How about we play a video game or something."

                "Alright." Kiba stands up walking to the console turning it on and grabbing the controllers as he puts a game in. He walks back over to the couch and sat back down. He hands the controller to Shikamaru and he sets up the game. They played for a while and then I played against Shikamaru since he beat Kiba. Once he dominated both of us, Kiba and I played. He beat me by a long shot. It makes sense because I never got to play video games until this year. All of a sudden the doorbell rang again. Kiba stood up and tried to get to the door fast, but in the process he stubbed his pinky toe really hard on the wall.

                "Fu-hey mom." He smiles at her and she gives his a very confused look. When she passed him he hit his head off the wall and hobbled back to his seat.

                "Smooth." I say making Shikamaru and I laugh.

                A minute later Kiba's mom comes in the living room and puts a pizza on the table in front of us. "Here you boys are." She smiles and turns to leave. When she was almost out of the living room, she turned back to us. "Oh and Kiba, nice save. I haven't heard that one yet." Both Shikamaru and I look over to Kiba. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open as if he was about to speak.

                "Maybe not so smooth." Shikamaru says and I look to him. Them all of a sudden I smell the pizza.

                "Well I think it's time to eat." I open the box and grab a piece of pizza. "How about a movie?"

                "I'll go get one." Kiba leaves the room and quickly returns with a couple of movies. He puts one in and starts it. He then grabs some pizza, turns the lights off, and sits down. Go figure Kiba had to pick a horror movie. Poor Shikamaru, he had to deal with me clinging onto his arm the whole time. The good thing is that he didn't really seem to care, but then again he doesn't seem to care much about many things. We all decided to continue watching movies and somewhere along the lines it became 10:40 and we all had to go home. Kiba waves us off and Shikamaru and I walk down the street.

                "So you're with the Uchiha now?"

                "Yeah, since October first."

                "I always knew you two would end up together."

                "And I see you and Temari getting together too."

                "Ha. Don't be crazy. That's like a suicide mission."

                "But you like here?"

                "Yeah ... as a fired."

                "Oh come on Shikamaru. You have to have at least thought someone was attractive or something by now."

                "Of course I think people are attractive."

                "Then you had to of had a crush on someone by now, even if it was the smallest crush ever."

                "Eh, women are such a drag. They're bossy, mean, and scary." He pauses and shudders for a second. "Oh man they're scary. If you ask me I'd much prefer to keeping my life thank you very much."

                "They can't be that scary. You have to be over exaggerating."

                "Haven't you seen a girl get angry before?"

                "Not really ... well actually, Tsunade used to get really mad at me before, but she was never scary."

                "Now aren't you lucky." He shoves his hands in his pockets and kicks a stone.

                "How about Ino and Sakura? I mean they can be a real bitch most of the time but they sure are pretty."

                "You're still going on about that, are you. Look, when I find someone I'm actually attracted to I'll promise to tell you. Okay?

                "Okay." I smile. "Oh, Kiba and I were talking a while back and we got on the subject of what we wanted to do. We are in eleventh grade, we should probably have an idea about what we're going to do or we should at least be thinking about it."

                "Is this your way of asking what I want to do is?"

                "Yeah."

                "...Hmm ... honestly ... I have no idea."

                "Well you're really smart so put your talent to use."    

                "That's such a drag."

                "That may be so, but think of all the thinks you can do to help so many people."

                "Yeah, I don't know. What about you? What do you want to do?"

                "The only thing I can think of is an FBI special agent."

                "..."

                "..?"

                "... you'd do good in it. You have a motive too."

                "You're actually supporting me?"

                "Well ... yeah?" Now that I think about it, Kiba was the only one not really liking the whole idea. I haven't told Iruka yet, but he'll probably support me. He'll worry way too much but he'll still support me.

                "I know! You should go into the investigation core for the FBI! That way you can be with Sasuke and me and help us or whatever." I smile and look over at him excitedly.

                "Sasuke too?"

                "Yeah, he said he was going to join if I did. I still don't know if I am going to though."

                "Hmm ... I'll sleep on the idea and tell you what I think in a letter. For now I leave you with a maybe. And plus, my house is right here." We stop in front of his house.

                "Oh, right, I guess I'll ... see you ... sometime then."

                "Oh Naruto, you never change do you?" He steps closer to me and hugs me. I wrap my arms around him and smile. "It's not forever." We stand there for a little while in each others arms until Shikamaru said something again. "You know we should let go now."

                "But you're just so warm." I feel him chuckle and we both let go.

                "I'll see you later Naruto." He waves and walks up to his house. I smile and turn around starting to walk. When all of a sudden I realize I was alone, at night, doing exactly what Kakashi has told me not to do. Well shit. I feel my heart beat quicken. Great, why did I have to freak myself out? I quicken my pace to a very fast speed walk. The dark has always freaked me out to begin with so this whole Akatsuki trying to kill me think is just the icing on the cake. Maybe if I think of something else it'll all get better. Well that thought went flying right out the window when I heard something crack behind me. You better believe I nearly jumped right out of my skin at it. Out of the middle of nowhere, something jumped out in front of me making me flinch, but then I get into a fighting stance. I can do this.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Shall We Dance**

                I look down and see a rabbit look at me before quickly hopping away. I release my breath and drop my stance. Damn rabbits. I look around once before leaving. By the time I got to my house I nearly had a heart attack. I quietly go inside and take off my shoes. What time is it? I walk back to hall to my room and go in. I close the door and look at my alarm clock by my bed. 11:04. Well that took longer than I expected. I wonder if Iruka is home. If he is he's probably asleep. Oh wait, I never told him I was going to Kiba's today. Dammit.

                I lay down o my bed closing my eyes. I hope he's not going to be angry at me.

XXXXX

                "You think you can escape us? You're a fool. If you refuse to come with us then you'll regret it. We will kill everyone that you hold dear one by one." The pierced man said.

                "Why me? What do you want?"

                "We want to kill you before you get too strong."

                "What if I promise not to come after you?"

                "We can't take that risk. If you don't want anyone to die, come to us in a week." He disappears and my eyes snap open. Was that only a dream? I sit up and rub my eyes. I groggily look over to my clock. 1:25. Seriously? I stand up grabbing my clothes and going to the bathroom. I turn on the shower and strip down stepping in to the downpour of hot water. I close my eyes and lean on the wall letting the water wash over me. I was way to tired to move.

                All of a sudden I lost all my energy that I had. My knees grew weaker every passing second until they eventually gave out from underneath me making me fall to the bottom of the shower. I just sat there for a while until I decided to try and stand. I grab the walls pulling myself up.

                Why am I so tired? I can never get to sleep after I wake up from a dream either. I open my eyes as much as I could and looked at the shampoo bottles. I close my eyes once more, and that's when a thought came into my head. What if I end it now? No one would have to get hurt because of me. They might be sad when I first die, but they'd get over it just like they get over everything else. That way the Akatsuki would leave everyone alone. I slowly reach down at a razor before stopping myself.

                What am I doing? Do I honestly think that by killing myself they will stop? Do I think that they will just leave everyone else alone and that no one else will have to die or get hurt? It was only a dream, none of what they said is true.

                I turn around and shut off the shower. I think I'm losing it. I step out of the shower and dry myself off and I wrap the towel around my waist when I was done. I stand in front of the mirror and wipe away the fog. I look at my reflection and frown. I look really tired. I put on my clothes and hung up my towel. I open the door and I almost had a heart attack. Iruka was standing there looking like he was still asleep.

                "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I say a little angered.

                "No. I just heard you get up and get in the shower, so I got curious. Why are you up so early?"

                "I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. What time is it?"

                "Around 2:30."

                "Do you think ... well ... would you mind if I ..." I felt kind of awkward asking if I could sleep with him. It sounds wrong and just plain weird. "Well I have been having these dreams that wake me up recently, but when I am near someone I can sleep longer so would it be okay if I could sleep with you. Only for the rest of today though."

                Iruka smiled at my long winded question. "Of course you can."

XXXXX

                "I tell you to not walk alone, so of course you go and do exactly that."

                "I didn't mean to. I completely forgot. The only thing that tried to attack me was a rabbit."

                "You're lucky it was only a rabbit."

                "Look. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

                Kakashi sighs sitting next to Iruka. I look over to Kiba who was utterly at a loss. Then I glance to Sasuke who was looking out the window acting like he doesn't give a shit, but he actually does. He tends to do that a lot.

                "Okay I'm lost, someone explain to me what's happening." Kiba says looking around at everyone waiting for an explanation.

                "The Akatsuki came after Naruto a couple days ago. They are finally making a move and my guess is that they are going to try and kill Naruto before he gets too strong and they won't be able to stop him."

                "The Akatsuki? Aren't they the ones who killed your parents?" He looks at me and I nod. "Why would they want to kill Naruto?"

                "They fear that he will be like his parents and try to stop them."

                "Why don't they move their headquarters if they are scared of that happening?"

                "They move all the time, they must have just recently moved back here or they just sent a pair to Konoha to check things out."

                "Meaning?"

                "They are preparing to move back and raise some hell. My guess is that they haven't moved anyone back yet. That means we could possibly have a couple of years before we really have to start worrying about anything."      

                "So that whole encounter with piercing man and flower girl was just some freak accident?" I ask confused.

                "Not entirely. Those two are called Pein and Konan. Pein is the Akatsuki leader. He must have sent himself to try and get you so they wouldn't have to move back. And since it failed they are probably analyzing everything, thinking up of a couple plans, regrouping, then moving back. All of that could take a couple of years."

                "So we don't have to worry about them?"

                "Not really, but I still want you to be careful. I don't know if Pein and Konan are out of Konoha or not." The bell rings and we all stand. "Don't worry too much about it Naruto."

                "Okay." Kiba, Sasuke and I all leave the room and go to our classes. When Kiba left us, I grabbed Sasuke's arm and ran up the stairs to the roof. When we got to the roof I quickly stood in front of the door so no one could come up and so Sasuke couldn't leave.

                "Naruto, what are you doing?"

                "I want to ask you a question, but you're probably not going to like it very much." He furrowed his brows waiting for me to continue. "It's about Itachi." His glare narrowed. "Itachi told me why he thinks you hate him, but I feel like there is more to it than that."               

                "What did he tell you?"

                "He thinks that you hate him because he killed my parents."

                "That's only part of the reason now. I probably would have to say I hate him even more now because he hurt you, but that's not the only reason."

                "If that's not the only reason, what else is there?"

                "Look, I don't have time for this." He tried to move me, but I held my ground. "Move Naruto."

                "Sasuke, please. I want to help."

                "Help what? There's nothing you could possibly do! You can't do anything!"

                I look down to the ground for a second, then I harden my eyes and glare at him. "You're right, I can't do anything. Maybe I really can't help you, but we'll never know unless we try."

                "You don't understand." Sasuke chuckles then glares at me. "There is nothing for you to help!"

                "I want to help both you and Itachi, Sasuke! He still loves you and cares for you, he worries over you, he even tested me to see if I was 'good enough' for you. He's always looking out for you. He wants to make it up to you, to apologize. He just wants his little brother back."

                He turns away from me shoving his hands in his pockets. "The reason why I hate him ... is because he left us. He joined the Akatsuki and he tried to kill our family. He's not the same brother I once had."

                "He tried to kill your parents?"

                "He succeeded in killing one of them. Now it's just my father and I." God dammit Itachi. Why'd you have to go and kill your mom? You're just making it that much harder on me to help you. Now I'm going to have to get Itachi's side of the story and try to clear up this giant ... uhm ... misunderstanding? I step away from the door and look at him.

                "I'm sorry for making you tell me this. If you're angry at me then I'll understand."

                "You didn't make me tell you anything. I had a choice to tell you or not." He walks past me opening the door. "I'm not angry at you either, just don't go and get yourself hurt. Don't forget that tomorrow is the dance." I hear the door shut behind me. I guess that means I need to go shopping.

XXXXX

                "Where were you?"

                "When?"

                "During English class."

                "Oh ... hahaha ... well I kind of fell asleep on the roof. I woke up in the middle of 8th period. Iruka glares at me and hits me in the back of the head. "Ow!"

                "You knucklehead. Don't do that again."

                "Okay, okay. I won't." I rub the back of my head and look up at Iruka. He must have seen me look at him because he looked at me and smiled brightly, I couldn't help but smile back. We get into his car and start moving. "Oh, Iruka. We need to go shopping."     

                "Why is that?"

                "I need something for the dance tomorrow."

                "I see. Well we can't have you looking bad for your first dance, now can we. I take it we go now?"

                "Considering it's kind of tomorrow, yeah."

                "Alright, to the mall it is." As we were driving down the road I saw Sasuke with a white haired boy. I think that's Suigetsu. I was tempted to roll down my window and scream his name, but I just smile at the thought and turn on the music. When we get to the mall, Iruka takes me to one of his favorite clothing stores to get me some nice-ish clothes.

                "Is it a formal dance?" I ask Iruka.

                "No, it's a jeans kind of thing." We head over to the section dedicated for boys clothing and look around. I end up grabbing a couple pairs of jeans and Iruka found some shirts. I went and tried them on. I got laughed at by Iruka a few times when I would do something stupid or if I looked funny. In the end I decided on a pair of black jeans, a black belt, and a simple orange shirt.

                "How about we grab something to eat."

                "Oh! Can we go to Ichiraku? I haven't been there in ages!"

                "If that's what you want." Iruka laughs walking over to the checkout and buying my clothes. WE then get in the car and go to Ichiraku. I over excitedly sit in a chair waiting for Iruka to hurry up and sit down too. When he did, the owner came over.

                "What can I get you two?"

                "Two of your pork miso ramen please."

                "Coming right up." After a couple of minutes, the old man gave us our ramen and we started to eat.

                "Hey Iruka, are you coming to the dance too?"

                "I'm afraid not."

                "Why not?"

                "Kakashi invited me over." I furrow my brows. Neither of them are going? Great. "Why do you ask?"

                "Well I was just wondering who the chaperones were going to be. And well ... I'm kind of nervous to be honest. I don't really know what to expect. What if since everyone hates me, they do something to me."

                "Not everyone hates you Naruto, and besides, you'll have Sasuke with you. He'll make sure nothing bad happens to you."

                "You're probably right."

                "If you want me to I'll come."

                "No. I want you and Kakashi to have a good time."

                "Okay, but if something comes up then use Sasuke's phone to call me or Kakashi."

                "I will." I smile and finish off my ramen. I could have eaten more, but I didn't want to have to make Iruka wait on me. When he finished his bowl he pays the old man. "Hey Iruka, do you think we can swing by my old house to pick up my stuff?"

                "Oh yeah, I forgot all about that. Yeah, we can go." We get in the car and drive over. After ten minutes of driving, we finally arrive and we go inside. Luckily it wasn't locked and nothing was taken. We both walk back to my room. I look around for a minute before walking over to my desk and opening a drawer taking out the photo album. I run my hand over it and set it on my bed. I open my closet and grab my clothes that I wore most often and put them on the bed too. Iruka and I both grabbed as much as we could and left. I didn't want to stay in there any longer than I had to. I was already staring to feel sick. When we got outside I put my stuff in the car and then reclaimed my seat up front again. Iruka soon followed and started up the car pulling out of the driveway.

                "I hope you know I'm getting pictures of you and Sasuke before you go to the dance."

                "But it's just a casual dance. We don't dress up."

                "It's your first dance and I want to remember it."

                "Whatever you want." I laugh and close my eyes. I'm actually excited to go to this dance now.

XXXXX

                "Please Sasuke."

                "I don't do pictures."

                "It's just one."

                "I don't care if it's one or one hundred. I don't do pictures."

                "I just want to make Iruka happy."

                "I don't car."

                "What do I have to do to make you take a picture?"

                A smirk emerges on his face. Okay, that's not good. Whenever he smirks like that he has some idea that he knows that I won't like. I'm kind of scared to ask what he's thinking.

                "Where do you draw the line?"

                "Anything too perverted is a no, no."

                "What exactly do you consider too perverted?"

                "No sex."

                "That it?"

                "Uh ..." I ponder on the thought for a moment trying to think of anything else I might object to, but nothing in particular came to mind. "I guess so. Now why were you smirking?"

                "I want to do something for your birthday."

                Well that wasn't nearly as bad as I though it was going to be. That can't be the whole story behind that smirk.

                "Just something for my birthday?"

                "I want you to have a birthday to remember."

                Okay, now I'm really getting suspicious. He never does stuff for others without him getting some kind of prophet from it. He must have seen my confused gaze because he decided to try and reassure me.

                "Don't worry, I don't have anything you won't like in mind."

                "Then why were you smirking?"

                "Am I not allowed to be happy for you?"

                "Well yeah you're allowed to be happy for me, but you kind of seem a little ... strange right now."

                "If you want I could go back to having little to no emotion."

                "No, never mind. Forget I said anything. Strange is good."

                A perk to being Sasuke's boyfriend is that I get to see him smile a lot more. He's not as tense around me and he let's his guard down too. His smile, whenever he smiles, just makes me want to smother him with affection. It's so welcoming and comforting. Even though he smiles a lot more than usual around me, it's still not very often so whenever he does genuinely smile I have to cherish it. If only he'd loosen up a little bit around other people, maybe he'd have some more friends. It wouldn't hurt to show a different emotion other than annoyance or anger every once in a while.

                "So will you take a picture with me for Iruka?"

                "... I guess."

                I smile and grab his wrist, heading to the living room where Iruka and Kakashi resided. They both stood up from their seats on the couch, some a little more excited than others. The said excited one eagerly grabs his camera taking us outside with a tired white haired man following behind us. We stood under a tree just were there was enough light shining through to see us. When Iruka tried to take the picture he stopped and slowly peeked his eyes over the camera.

                "Sasuke ... are you going to smile?"

                "You're lucky you're getting a picture, don't push it."

                "Are you always this cheerful?" Iruka said with clear sarcasm.

                I glance over at Sasuke from the corner of my eye and smirk. I had an idea. Right before Iruka took the picture I grabbed Sasuke's sides and started tickling him. That's another perk to being his boyfriends. I know pretty much all his ticklish spots so I can make him smile, even if it is just a little forced. As soon as I grab his sides making him laugh, Iruka snaps the picture.

                "D-dobe! K-knock it off!" Sasuke managed to say between laughs. "T-the picture is d-done!"

                I accidentally push Sasuke to the ground laughing. I look down at Sasuke who was glaring at me. His glare only made me want to laugh even more, but I refrained myself. Actually, when I was done laughing and able to get a good look at Sasuke right now I realized how attractive he looked. Granted he always looked good no matter what he was doing, but right now ...

                "Don't think I'll let you get away with that."

                "Oh? What are you going to do?"

                Sasuke's hand shot up grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me into a kiss. I pushed my tongue into his mouth after a couple of seconds and he pulled me closer to him. All of a sudden I was flipped and I had a smirking Uchiha hovering over top of me. He quickly locked our lips back together ad pushed his tongue into my mouth fighting for dominance. He did something that felt particularly good and I would have moaned if I hadn't remembered Iruka and Kakashi were standing there. Iruka coughed making us stop what we were going and look up at them. He sure didn't look to thrilled.

                "Sorry about that." I nervously laugh as Sasuke helps me stand.

                "You boys want a ride or do you want to be that fashionably late couple?"

                I look over at Sasuke and raise my eyebrow at him. He just shrugs and goes back to fixing his clothes from messing around on the ground.

                "We'll walk."

                "Okay, you two be careful. Don't leave him alone Sasuke. Make sure your phone is on. Oh! And make sure you can hear it if it goes off. Be back by-"

                "Iruka ... they'll be just fine." Kakashi casts his gaze to us and smiles. "Have fun."

                "Bye Naruto. Be safe." We wave our goodbyes and we start to leave.

                He acts like it's going to be forever. If Iruka is this worried about me just going to a dance for one night, what's he going to be like when I move out and go to college? That's going to be a pain, but it's nice to have him care too much than little or none at all. Even though he isn't technically my father right now, it still feels like he is. Since I never really had a father, ever since I was young, I always imagined him like a father. I often though 'Is this what it's like to have a father?' of course I didn't really know, but it felt right.

                Then Kiba came along and I felt like he was some kind of brother to me. Both him and Shikamaru were, and still are, part of my family. I consider Kakashi to be part of us as well. As for Sasuke, he has a special place in our family to me.

                It's only been a couple of days since I started dating Sasuke. I still have no clue if I'm doing this whole relationship/dating thing right, but I'm guessing since Sasuke hasn't packed up his things and high tailed it away from me that I'm not doing atrociously terrible. Even if it only has been five-ish days. I'm still shocked that he's even given me the light of day. He's normally the type of person to not even spare the breath on someone, even if you're his friend. You can say that I feel special to be one of the only people that he likes talking to ... at least I think he likes talking to me.

                "Now the whole thing with Deidara and Itachi and family. I really trust them, they're nice, caring, loyal, at least from what I've experienced with them so far. They've saved both Sasuke and I, just recently actually. Itachi helped me with Sasuke ... kind of. They kind of feel like they're growing into the family as well. Slowly, but they're moving. I just need to clear up the whole mother killing incident with Itachi.

                By the time we got to the school it just barely started turning dark out. We walk up to the teachers standing in front of the doors and handed them our tickets. They stepped aside letting us in. We go into the gym and I take off my orange jacket setting it on the bleachers. There was an upbeat song playing right now, so Sasuke grabbed my wrist and brought me to the dance floor. It takes me a few minutes before I start to move with Sasuke. I occasionally bump into someone, but it didn't bother me. Sasuke pulled me slightly closer to him and kept dancing. I decided to try that hip move tat Sasuke said he likes, well he didn't say he liked it in particular but I know he was thinking it. I roll my hips and smirk at the raven haired Uchiha that was smirking at me. He pulled me close and help me there looking into my eyes.

                "You're such a tease."

                "I try."

                I kiss him real quick before pulling away and walking off of the dance floor. The song changed after I did this. I lean on the wall feeling Sasuke stand next to me. I looked through the darkness and colored lights to see if Kiba was here with Shino, but I didn't see him in the crowd. He's probably just behind someone or something. I look to my left and practically jump onto Sasuke almost making him fall over, but he catches both of us. Kiba was laughing hysterically at my reaction to him being so close. I narrow my eyes and try to pull away from Sasuke, but he put his arm around my shoulder. I glance over to see him glaring at Kiba, I just roll my eyes. He thinks of Kiba as competition and he's stupid.

                "I'll get you back for that I hope you know."

                "I'm sure you will."

                I look behind Kiba, half expecting Shino to be there, but he wasn't. "Where's Shino?"

                "Bathroom. I saw you over here in that bright orange shirt of yours. You kind of stick out."

                "Well I'm sorry, how about I just take my shirt off then."

               "I'm pretty sure you would stick out even more then." He chuckled moving his gaze to the angered Uchiha. "But if you insist on it, I'm almost positive that Uchiha would be more than happy to help you out with it."

                "Kiba."

                We both turn our heads to the quiet voice.

                "Hey, I'll see you later Naruto."

                I nod and he runs off to Shino, disappearing into the huge mass of people. I see Sasuke out of the corner of my eye. He still looks like his unapproachable bastard self. I bump him with my making him glare over to me.

                "Don't be like that. Kiba is no threat to you, I promise. We're only friends." I definitely wasn't going to tell him that he kissed me. That would only cause trouble.

                "I can't help it. Something about him makes me want to just-" HE cut himself off with a sigh. "I'll try to relax."

                "Now uhm ... not that I mind at all, honestly, but why do you have your arm around me?"

                "What, does it bother you?" He raised a brow at me.

                "No that's not it. I just feel like you only do that if you want to feel intimidating." He removed his arm making me feel sort of bad for saying anything. Dammit Naruto, why did you say anything you idiot! "I-I didn't mean you have to do that. I was just saying-"

                "Why are you here?" Sasuke glared at something in front of us. I turn my vision to what he was glaring at. Gaara and Hinata.

                "Hinata wanted to say hi." It looked as if Gaara was having a hard time with something. He was looking at Sasuke, but I could see that he wanted to look elsewhere.

                "It's killing you not being able to be mean to Naruto, isn't it? You're having a hard time not glaring at him right now."

                "Shut it Uchiha."

                "H-hey Naruto." I look down to Hinata and smile. "I w-was surprised to see you here."

                "I'm surprised myself too. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Sasuke."

                "Are you two together?"

                "Yeah."

                "It's to bad you two can't become the king and queen of he dance tonight because y-you know ... one of you would have to be a-a girl."

                "They have a crowning thing for a stupid little dance like this?" I gawk.

                "Y-yeah, your names were on your tickets and they put the tickets i-in a box. They're going to announce the king and queen later."

                "I thought there was only a king and queen for homecoming and prom."

                "They decided to do it this time too I guess."

                The song changed to a sloe one and Gaara takes the opportunity to get away by taking Hinata to go dance. Well that's the end of that conversation. Sasuke steps in front of me blocking my line of sight. I glance down at his extended hand then back to his eyes in confusion.

                "Shall we?"

                "Dance?"

                "No, go rob a bank. Yes, dance, you dobe."

                "Everyone will stare though."

                "Let them."

                He takes my hand bringing me to the dance floor. He stops and turns to face me pulling me close to him. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist so I had to put my hands around his neck. I kept nervously looking around to see if anyone was staring, they were. Sakura and Ino. Sasuke grabs my cheek, turning my face so my eyes met black ones. The look in his eyes made me feel a little calmer. Without him saying anything I was able to tell what he was trying to tell me. He was trying to tell me to focus on us and not bother with anyone else. I slightly smirk closing my eyes as I rest my forehead against him.

                After the song ended we went back and sat on the bleachers talking for a long time until the music stopped and the microphone on the stage made a noise. I look in the direction of the stage to see Tsunade standing there, microphone in hand.

                "Good evening everybody, it's time we pick the two lucky winners for the king and queen." She reaches into one of the buckets pulling out a paper and unfolding it. She then glances the crowd. "Hinata Hyuuga." My eyes dart to Hinata who was standing with Kiba, Shino, and Gaara. Her eyes practically popping out of her head. "Come on up Hinata." She shakily walks up to the stage and Tsunade puts a white sash over her that said 'Queen' on it in red letters. "Congratulations to you Hinata. Now for the boys." She reaches into the other bucket and pulls out another slip of paper proceeding to unfold it. A faint smile spreads across her face. "Naruto Uzumaki." I nearly felt my heart stop. No. "Come up here Naruto." No. She looks around the crows searching for me. "Don't be shy Naruto, come on." I don't think so. I'm quite comfortable right here thank you very much.

                I could feel everyone's glare on me as I slowly start to walk to the stage. Why I started to walk, I don't know. When I get up to her I felt like I was going to pass out. This ... is not good. She smiles putting the king's sash on me. I glance over to Hinata. She was smiling as well. I try to make myself calm down. I turn my gaze to the crowd finding Kiba. He was smiling too. It was kind of relaxing, actually. I look over to Sasuke and I could feel my heart stop. The look on his face was pure horror and regret. Why is he looking at me like that? What is wrong? What is going on? A million questions started running through my head making me start to panic again.

                "Ladies and gentlemen, your king and queen." There was a faint applause coming from the crowd. Then all of a sudden I see Sasuke push though the crowd as fast as he could.

                "Naruto! Move!" Move? What the hell is he talking about? He jumped onto the stage a little too late. Something was poured over my head. I tense up and squeeze my eyes shut. The whole room erupted with laughter. I wipe my eyes clean and open them. Kiba and Sasuke both looked like they were about to rip someone's throat out. Whatever this substance was, it was sticky, black, and it smelled horrifying.

                "I knew this was a bad idea." I slowly backed up as Sasuke walked towards me. I quickly turned around and ran back through the door behind the curtains on the stage then out another set of doors to the outside.

                "Naruto! Stop running would you?" Sasuke grabbed my shoulder making me face him, but I slap his hand away surprising him. "Naruto." I shake my head turning away.

                "Just ... leave me alone."

                "I can't do that, Iruka would have my head."

                "I don't care! Just leave me alone right now!" I saw Sasuke glare at me before I left.

XXXXX

                I knock on the door in hopes that they're still awake. My hopes were rewarded in a minute when someone opened the door.

                "Who's- Naruto?"

                "Hey Itachi. Could I um ... possibly use your bathroom?"

                "Y-yeah." He stepped aside letting me pass. "It's just down the hall." I nod and go down the hall into the bathroom, careful not to drip anything on the floor. I close the door and step in the shower. I take my clothes off and set them in the bottom of the shower. I then start the water. I try to get it out of my hair as fast as I could so I don't bother Itachi and Deidara. It wasn't so easy though. When I eventually got it all out I turned the shower off and furrowed my brows at the clothes at my feet. Barely any of the gunk came off. Maybe I shouldn't have bought new clothes. I step out of the shower grabbing a towel and drying myself off. I dry off my hair and glare into the mirror. The black glue stuff made my hair practically black. Great.

                There was a knock on the door, so I wrap the towel around my waist and open the door. Itachi was standing there with some clothes in his hands. He hands them to me and I smile taking them.

                "I figured you would need these."

                "Thanks."

                He nods closing the door so I could get changed. I quickly put them on and throw the towel in the hamper. The clothes were a little baggy but I didn't care, I'm grateful Itachi did this all for me, so I wasn't about to start to complain. I leave the bathroom and walk into the living room seeing Itachi sitting on the couch.

                "Now you're going to tell me what happened, right?" Itachi said without looking back. I walk over and slump down on a chair.

                "I was at the dance and I got picked to be king. Then that black gunk that you saw on me earlier was poured over my head. It also dyed my hair to this." I ran my hand through my still wet hair.

                "Was Sasuke not with you?"

                "No, he was but he couldn't do anything. I kind of ... pushed him away after the whole incident though. I wasn't thinking."

                "I'm surprised he still didn't follow you anyway. It's not like him to listen to people even if that means them getting angry at him in the process. He must have been feeling bad or thinking about something. Oh, but if you want I have this special shampoo that could possibly take that color out of your hair. I'll give you some if you'd like."

                "I'd really appreciate it."

                Now that Itachi mentioned it, Sasuke did look like something was bothering him even before it all happened.

                It's because he knew all about it.

                No way. If he know that, that would happen then he would have stopped me from going up onto the stage.

                Not if he was the one who wanted it to happen.

                He wouldn't want that to happen.

                Don't you find it even the slightest bit suspicious that we of all people were picked?

                It's called dumb luck, stupid.

                No, it's called the votes were rigged.

                They were not rigged.

                They were. Everyone was probably in on it and by everyone I mean including Sasuke. They had Sasuke ask you out to the dance so you'd go, then they put their plan into action when Sasuke said you were going. Don't you also find it at least the slightest bit suspicious that Sasuke is so not himself to you? He's completely out of his character. Any idiot would see this. You just happen to be a special kind of idiot that doesn't understand anything.

                Will you just stop talking. Sasuke asked me to the dance because he _wanted_ to. Not because of some stupid plan. He also is dating me because he actually wants to, so just shut up. You obviously don't know Sasuke like I do.

                You idiot, I am you. I'm just the damn logical side of you, but whatever, I tried to help the stupid be less idiotic but clearly it's clearly not working. Don't come whining to me when it all goes to shit.

                Just shut up would you! I don't see why you want to break us up so badly.

                ...

                Hey ..?

                ...

                Don't ignore me. You can't ignore yourself!

                ...

                I'm not done talking to you yet! Get back here!

                ...

                ... Fine, be that way. I didn't want tot talk to myself anyway.

                "Hey, you okay? You went from looking like you were confused to extremely pissed."

                "Oh, haha, I'm fine I just remembered something."

                "What was it?"

                Crap. "Uhm ... where's Deidara?"

                "That's what you remembered?"

                "Kind of."

                He shrugs it off. "He's o a trip, he's coming back tomorrow."

                "Where did he go?"

                "To see relatives."

                "You didn't go with him?"

                "Considering they don't like me too well. No."

                "Oh come on, they can't dislike you that much."

                "They tried to kill me."

                "... oh ..."

                "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal." He smiles.

                Wait. Sasuke. Itachi. OH!

                "Itachi you know how you though Sasuke hated you because you killed my parents?"

                "Yeah?"

                "That's only a little bit of the reason."

                "There's more?"

                "Yeah, I talked to him about it and eventually got the reason out of him. Is it true that you killed your mother?" Itachi paled. "So it is true?"

                "No! He thought that I ... all this time."

                "Well you tell me what happened?"

               "Back when Sasuke was just a little kid, we were being robbed. Our father was out and it was just our mom, Sasuke and me home. Sasuke was in his room and I was in mine. There was a loud bang out in the living room so I went and checked it out. Someone had broken in and was fighting our mother. I tried to get to her in time, but I was too late. The man stabbed her through the heart. I pulled out the dagger and the man ran away. Sasuke just happened to see me holding the bloodied dagger. I later found out that it wasn't just a robber. It was the Akatsuki. They didn't hold up their side of their bargain ... I need to clear this up with him."

                "If you want I could talk to him and tell him about it."

                "No." Itachi shook his head. "I have to be the one to tell him. To help myself if nothing else."

                "He probably won't believe you."

                "I expect as much, I'll give him time."

                "Do you want me to tell him that you want to talk to him?"

                He was quiet for a minute before he answered. "I don't think you should get involved with it any more than you already have. I don't want you to help me and get Sasuke angry with you. It could jeopardize your relationship. Especially since it's my little brother. He has the Uchiha attitude to the max."

                I smile. "That's for sure." I look around for a clock, but there wasn't one in sight. "Uh, do you happen to know what time it is?"

                "Yeah," He pulls out his phone. "It's 11:50."

                "Oh, wow. I have to skedaddle. Do you have a plastic bag I could put my clothes in?" We both stand up.

                "I presume you don't want Iruka to find out what happened?" I furrow my brows in question. "Since you came here and not you house. I could wash them and get them back to you later."

                "Would you really? That would be a lot of help."

                "It's no big deal. Oh. Wait here." He goes off down the hall to the bathroom then coming back a few minutes later handing me a bottle. "Here's that shampoo I was talking about." I take it and smile. I quickly put my shoes on opening the door.

                "Thanks for everything Itachi."

                "No problem, now you get home before you get into trouble."

                I nod and walk off into the darkness. Yet again doing what Kakashi told me now to do. I should have asked for a ride. I glance back over my shoulder to the open garage. There was no car anywhere near his house. Deidara must have taken it. Okay, so that wouldn't have done any good. I'll just high tail it home. With that in mind I turn and continue my walk.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13: Birthday Boy**

                Thankfully Iruka wasn't home when I got there so I took a quick shower with that shampoo Itachi gave to me. I wasn't expecting it to work as well as it did. It got rid of almost all of the black in my hair, besides where a lot of the gunk was poured onto my head. I only had a little black on the top of my head, it was barely even noticeable.

                When I got out of the shower I was beat. I plopped down on the living room couch laying on my stomach with one arm hanging off over the edge. I close my eyes. I feel like shit for pushing Sasuke away. He was just trying to help me. Even though I told him to leave me alone, why did he? He knew it was dangerous for me to go out in town alone, especially at night, so why did he let me leave so easily? Luckily nothing happened, but what if something had? It would be all my fault again. I was the one who pushed Sasuke away from me.

                If I think back to before it all happened, Sasuke looked like he was conflicting himself over something. Did he not follow me because of what he was thinking of? Was it seriously bad enough to make him act so odd? Or maybe it was just the shock of me yelling at him that made him stay back. That seemed like a farfetched reason though. He's Sasuke. Even if he was pissed beyond belief, surprised, sad, happy, or sick he still wouldn't have cared if I tried to push him away, he's still stay near me no matter what. He'd probably even insist on staying with me if he was on his death bed, so that leads me to the question to what could have gotten him so sidetracked.

                I turn onto my side so I'm facing the room and I open my eyes. Okay maybe I didn't have to leave Itachi's so soon. This whole lonely thing is making my thought run wild. Iruka's not even home yet and I don't even know if he's going to be home tonight. I'm sure Sasuke probably called or texted one of either Kakashi or Iruka telling them that I've up and disappeared. I would call them and tell them I'm fine, but I don't have their numbers. I wonder if Kakashi's number is in the phonebook.

                I groggily sit up and look around the house for a phonebook. When I found one I turned the light on and sat down on the couch again. I flipped though the pages until I get to the H. I scan my eyes over the names looking for Hatake. When I didn't find it the first time I scanned though it again only this time I found it. Hatake Kakashi. I grab the phone and dial his number in. I put the phone to my ear and let it ring. It rings for a while them goes to voicemail. Okay, so they aren't home.

                Just as I was setting the phone back and closing the phonebook, the door slammed open. A very flustered looking Iruka burst in running back the wall. I just sit there and a few seconds later he comes flying back out into the living room locking eyes with me. It's like you could just see the relief rush over his face. He was over to me in a second dropping to his knees and wrapping his arms around me tightly. Yeah, Sasuke told them. He backs up and gently hold my cheeks looking into my eyes.

                "I'm sorry, Naruto."

                "What for? I'm fine."

                "Sasuke told me what happened."

                "Everything?"

                He nods. "He said he let you leave and he didn't follow. He was also saying that he was sorry for something." He gets off the floor and sat next to me.

                "Sorry about?"

                "He hung up before we could ask him."

                "Do you have his cell number?"

                "Yeah, here." Iruka handed me his phone. I went through the contacts finding Sasuke and calling him. It was just about to go to voicemail when he picked up.

                "Yeah?"

                "Sasuke?"

                "Naruto?"

                "Yeah, hey, I want to tell you I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you away or yell. I was just kind of upset."

                "I'll be there in five." He hangs up. I didn't move for a second. He hung up.

                "Well?" Iruka said curiously as I handed him back his phone.

                "He hung up."

                "He didn't say anything?"

                "He said he'll be here in five."

                "I see. What happened to the top of your head?" Of course he would notice that.

                "My hair? The black gunk they poured on me dyed it, but Itach-"

                "Itach? Itachi? What about Itachi?"

                "No, not Itachi. Itachke."

                "Naruto, why were you hanging out with Itachi?"

                I sigh in defeat and look at him with puppy dog eyes. "He's not bad. You just don't know the whole story." He was about to say something, but I cut him off. "No, I will not tell you the back story. If you want to know, go ask Itachi." Iruka closed his mouth. He probably wasn't expecting that. "Sorry Iruka." I stand up. "I'll see you tomorrow, I don't feel well." I walk back to my room leaving a speechless Iruka behind.

                A few minutes later my door opened. I didn't bother to open my eyes. Not that I didn't want to, but my eyes just wouldn't open. I wanted to see Sasuke right now. I forcibly open my eyes as much as I could and turn my head to see the raven haired boy standing in my doorway. He closed the door, not bothering to turn the light now, and walked over to me. He sat next to me but didn't speak. At least not for a while.

                "I don't blame you for pushing me away. I was actually half expecting it." He was looking down at his hands. "I should actually be the one apologizing. I shouldn't of let you leave all alone."

                "It's not like you to apologize ya know."

                "I'm feeling spontaneous, okay." I do a half smile and sit up. I wrap my arms around Sasuke and pull him back so he's laying down next to me. I see a sad smile on his face.

                "Why do you always look so sad today? And when I was up on stage you looked conflicted."

                "I was just wondering if the drawing was rigged or not."

                "Why would you think that?"

                "Because people don't necessarily like you that much, remember? It turned out that my hypothesis was correct, but I couldn't get to you in time."

                "You're blaming yourself for not being fast enough?"

                "I'm not blaming myself for anything. I just with I could have got there sooner."

                "How about next dance I won't go up if I'm called. Sound good?"

                "You're still willing to go to dances after this?"

                "As long as I get to go with you, then yes."

                Sasuke rolled his eyes. A grin slowly creeping onto his face. "You're such a dobe."

XXXXX

                Sasuke ended up going home later that night, mostly because Iruka made him. He thought we were going to get a little too happy. It's been a couple of days since the dance, and now everyone is making a big deal about my birthday.

                "It's tomorrow and you still haven't told me what you want."

                "I don't know, uh, get me some instant ramen. I like that."

                "You can get that any day. You're supposed to get something special for your birthday. Not ramen."

                "Come on Iruka, I don't know. Surprise me. And for your information, ramen is very special."

                Iruka sighs pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay fine, I'll think of something. But don't complain when it turns out to be stupid."

                "I won't care if it's stupid. Also, I won't be able to stay with you all day or whatever because Sasuke is taking me somewhere."

                "Where to?"

                "I'm not sure, he didn't tell me ... if he did I don't remember." Iruka hands me a cup of tea that he had been making. I take it and sip it slowly, making sure not to burn my tongue. "It's probably just going to be something like dinner or whatever you do for birthdays."

                "I want you to be careful. I've never been with Sasuke when he's driving."

                "He can drive?" I set my cup down on the counter.

                "He's 17. Kakashi has mentioned him driving a couple times."

                "Well damn. I mean ... darn." I nervously laugh and scratch the back of my head. Iruka chuckles shaking his head as he pours himself a cup of tea and walks into the living room with me trailing behind.

                "It's getting colder out, I want you to dress appropriately. And I want you to come home tomorrow night, no staying at his house. Be back by the latest of 11:30. No talking to anyone suspicious looking. I say, and I cannot express this enough, do _not_ leave Sasuke's side. Unless for some unknown reason you want me to have a heart attack and potentially die."

                "Even if he goes to the bathroom?"

                "Ye- ... well ... no."

                I chuckle slightly. "It'll be fine Iruka, nothing bad will happen." I hope.

                "You don't know that."

                "Okay, I'll be extra careful, just for you."

                "Thank you."

                We fell silent for a little while after that and Iruka turned on the tv. I watched whatever Iruka normally had on. It normally was pretty good, but occasionally he'll turn on some romantic movie. The bad part is that I actually kind of like them.

                "Hey Iruka, don't get offended by what I'm going to say, but you know you worry too much."

                "There is no such thing. Plus, I'd rather worry a lot than not at all." He pauses to take a sip of his tea. "Also, with my luck I won't worry one time and something bad will happen." He picked up the remote and scrolled through the channels. "Oh. I love this movie." A romance movie.

                "Why do you like romantic movies so much?"

                "Because, they're just so beautiful. They always end happy. And I like sappy and cheesy romance stuff."

                "But they don't _always_ end happy."

                "I don't know what you're talking about." He said sarcastically as he turns his line of sight back to the movie. After the movie was over we both go to bed.

XXXXX

                "Happy birthday Naruto!" Kiba says hugging me from behind. I smile and turn around hugging him back before letting go.

                "Thanks Kiba." I laugh and sit down in my seat for English. "Hey Kiba, have you seen Sasuke today?"

                "No, I haven't. Haven't you?"

                "No, I have a feeling he didn't come today."

                "Did something happen?"

                "I'm not sure, I was going to check up on him after school sometime. You know, after Iruka says I can."

                "Speaking of Iruka, what did he get you?"

                "I don't know. He won't give me a hint and I can't have it until after school. He says it's nothing special thought so I shouldn't get worked up over it."

                "So it's something big?"

                "Exactly." We both laugh as Iruka walks in telling everyone to take their seats and class began.

XXXXX

                I waited another minute. "How about now?"

                "You just had dinner Naruto. Chill yourself."

                Another minute. "Now?"

                "Naruto." He sighed.

                "Okay, okay." A minute and a half. "Iruuukaaa, come ooon."

                "I told you it wasn't anything to get worked up over, so why are you getting worked up over it?"

                "Because you told me not to get worked up over it." Iruka nodded as if that was a valid argument.

                "Okay, fine." He stood up leaving the room. He returned a minute later with a present in hand. "Happy birthday Naruto." Iruka hands me the present smiling. I smile and eagerly take the gift. I wait for him to sit down before I rip off the paper revealing a smooth, glossy, and white box with writing and a picture of a phone on it. I stare at it for a minute before setting it on the couch next to me and stand up with my bangs covering my eyes.

                "N-Naruto? Do you lik- oof." He gets cut off by me lunging into him and hugging him tightly.

                "No, I don't like it, I love it. Thank you so much Iruka. I couldn't have thought of anything better." He hugs me back.

                "I'd glad you like it." I pull away and sit back on the couch opening the box. "It'll also put my mind at ease. I've been wanting to get you this for a while. I'm sorry I didn't get you much."

                "Don't even say that. If you say that I might accidentally hit you."

                "Right." He smiles sitting himself next to me to help me get my phone ready. "I already put everyone's numbers in. I even got Kiba and Shikamaru's numbers for you." I smile over at him.

                "You really are the best Iruka, you know that."           

                "I try not to brag." He jokes. "How about you give Sasuke a call, I know you are probably worried. Tell him you're coming over, I'll give you a ride." My smile broadened as I nodded and called him ... after I had to have Iruka show me how. It rang for a while, and just as I was going to hang up he answered.

                "Why is your number blocked Suigetsu?" He sounded tired, kind of sick.

                "Is that the only person who calls you?" I chuckle.

                "Who is this?" He sounded more serious.

                "Who do you think teme?"

                "Dobe?"

                "The one and only."

                "Why is your number blocked?"

                "It's not blocked, you just don't have my number yet."

                "No, it says ..." He probably took his phone away from his ear to look at the screen. "So why are you calling?"

                I smile at how obviously Sasuke changed the topic after he clearly saw he was wrong. "I was calling to tell you that I'm coming over."

                "Don't."

                "...Why?"

                "I'm sick."

                "I figured since you thought my number was restricted, you couldn't tell it was me, and you weren't in school today. I'll be over in ten."

                "Naru-" I hung up the phone and Iruka smiled and took me over to his house. Like I said, ten minutes. Iruka wasn't going to come in, but I convinced him. We both go in and I wave to a surprised Kakashi and run up to Sasuke's room.

                "Hey sleeping beauty." I walk over and sit on the edge of his bed.

                "I told you not to come."

                "Yeah, I don't care. I never get sick so it's okay. Wow, it looks like the beauty sleep you got ain't doing you any good. You look like death."

                "Very hilarious dobe."

                "I try." I stand up and look to the drowsy raven haired boy. "I'm going to make you some ramen. It should make you feel better." I felt his hand grab my wrist as I try to leave.

            "No. Just stay here." I nod and lay myself down next to him. I wrap myself under his blankets and press close to him. He closed his eyes and laid his head on my chest. Eventually Sasuke's breath came in shallow repeating breathes. I bring my hand up and feel his forehead. He was burning up. I hear the door open behind me, so I look back to see Kakashi walk in with a small bowl and a wash cloth. He set it on the desk next to us.

                "Can you put this on his forehead and when it gets warm rinse it again?" I nod and take the wash cloth placing it on Sasuke's head. Kakashi left right after that. I'm surprised that Iruka hasn't come in to check on us, actually, Kakashi probably brought that in just now because Iruka was curious.

                Since Sasuke was asleep I decided to text Shikamaru.

                To Shikamaru: Hey, Shikamaru. It's me Naruto. Iruka got me a phone since today's my birthday and all, but yeah, I just wanted to tell you about it, so now we don't have to write.

                I send it and look at the play store, downloading some games to keep me from getting bored. I played games for an hour until Shikamaru finally texted me back.

                From Shikamaru: I know you had a phone, Kiba told me. But you're right, I'm glad I didn't start a letter yet. So what are you doing birthday boy? Oh, happy birthday by the way.

                To Shikamaru: You mean ... Kiba knew I was getting a phone before I did? That's so unfair. Although Iruka did tell me he got you guy's numbers from him. Right now I'm laying in bed with grouchy pants, and before you say anything, he is sick so I'm just chilling here. We are not doing anything ... no literally ... he's kind of asleep.

                My phone vibrated and to my surprise it wasn't Shikamaru. It was Kiba. From Kiba: So birthday boy ... how's your birthday going? Having fun at Sasuke's? ;)

                I roll my eyes. He really will never change, will he. To Kiba: Kiba ... don't even ... he's sick and sleeping. Oh and I have a bone to pick with you. You knew I was getting a phone before I actually got my phone. Why didn't you tell me?

                From Kiba: Because Iruka told me not to ... but don't worry, I'm sure Sasuke will make it up to you as soon as possible for not being able to give you a present.

                To Kiba: Oh shut up, I'm not doing anything like what you're thinking so relax.

                From Kiba: That idea won't last very long, especially when he's over top of you making your brain turn to mush.

                To Kiba: What if I want to be the one on top?

                From Kiba: Sorry bud, I think Sasuke's got you there.

                To Kiba: We'll see about that.

                From Kiba: So you're going to have sex with him?

                To Kiba: Eventually. Just not right now.

                From Kiba: I give it a week.

                From Shikamaru: I'm surprised he's actually willingly sleeping ... since you're there and all. Kakashi must have drugged him or something.

                To Shikamaru: Now that you mention it, it does seem strange that he's sleeping, but Kakashi probably threatened him that if he didn't stay in bed that he'd probably do something to embarrass him or whatever. Oh! How are you and Temari?

                From Shikamaru: Still good friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't worry Naruto. I haven't developed feeling for her yet.

                To Shikamaru: Yet!

                From Shikamaru: No. Not what I ... never mind ...

                To Shikamaru: Have fun with Temari.

                I feel Sasuke stir so I look down. His eyes opened and he looks up at me. "Feel any better."

                "Slightly." He moves away and sits up. When he does, the washcloth falls onto his lap. I grab it and set it in the bowl of water. "I'll make it up to you."

                "Make what up to me?"

                "Making you stay here on your birthday when I'm sick."

                "Don't worry about it Sasuke, I just wanted to spend time with you for my birthday. That's what we did. You just weren't conscious during most of it." I quickly lean in and kiss him then pulled back smiling.

                "You're seriously asking to get sick, aren't you?"

                "No, I already told you I don't get sick."

                "Do you want to test that theory?" Sasuke said smirking. I didn't even have to answer for him to know what I would have said. He attacked my lips, pushing me back against his bed. He pushes his tongue into my mouth and his hands trail down to my hips. He pushes up against me making a quiet moan escape my mouth. I run my hands through Sasuke's hair making him go slightly slack for a second. I think I just found a weakness. I wrap my hands around his back pulling him closer. I don't think Sasuke was expecting me to flip us.

                I just really hope Iruka doesn't get a sudden urge to come check up on us right now. I swear he has a radar to know when I'm doing something.

                I was now hovering over the raven smirking triumphantly. I didn't stop for long though. I quickly pushed our lips back together and this time I pushed my tongue into his mouth. He fought for dominance but I ran a hand through his hair and he lost the will to fight. He kept attempting to flip us back over, but he was weak right now. So when he knew he wasn't able to flip us again he settled for ripping my shirt off. After a little while I pause to take off Sasuke's shirt. I threw it to the side and pushed us back together. Skin to skin felt so much better than having our clothes rubbing against each other. I grin my hips against his making him moan into my mouth. Feeling satisfactory, I do it a couple more times making him pull me closer. He eagerly moved his hands to my pants and started pulling at them. Just as he unbuttoned and unzipped them, the door just had to open.

                We both stopped, but we didn't break eye contact for a few minutes. I was the first to look over at the door as I was trying to catch my breath. There stood Kakashi. I could see a slight blush on his cheeks. He then pulled his headband that covered his left eye slowly down over them both. "Sorry for the interruption, continue on. I'll be ... uhm ... leaving." He then closed the door. I look down at Sasuke and he just shrugs and pulling me back to meet his lips. It didn't last long though before the door burst back open. Iruka. I snap my head over to him standing in the door with his hands on his hips. Seriously Iruka?

                I quickly get off of Sasuke and smile at Iruka. Kakashi peeked his head in behind Iruka. "Sorry guys, he kind of found out."

                "Yeah, I kind of found out." Iruka growls snapping his eyes back to the white haired man. "You were actually going to let them get frisky? They're only seventeen!" Frisky? He looked back to us. "And you two. Am I going to have to supervise you both whenever you're around each other? I swear, teenagers now-a-days."

                "Iruka, don't you think you could go a little easier on him? It is his birthday after all."

                "Birthday or not, it is nonnegotiable. Come on Naruto, we have to go." I sigh and stand up. I should have expected this.

                "I'll see you later Sasuke." I grab my shirt slipping it on and buttoning my pants as I walk walks Iruka and Kakashi going down the stairs. Iruka wasn't far behind. I could tell he wasn't mad at me. He just wants to protect me from getting too attached too quickly. I can respect that, but it wouldn't hurt for him to relax just a bit.

XXXXX

                "I told you that you would get sick."

                "I'm not even sick, and plus, even if I am sick, which I'm not, it's been a long time since you have been sick. Us making out would of had nothing to do with it." Okay, so maybe I was a _little_ sick, but it's only because Kiba and I were running around in the rain yesterday and it was really cold and windy. It was my own idiotic fault.

                "Dobe, your temperature is 102 ... you're sick."

                "Relax teme, I'm fine." I try and stand, but Sasuke wasn't having it. He puts his hand on my forehead and pushed me back down. "Hey. What was that for?"

                "Tomorrow is Halloween. You will get better before that, and I'm going to make sure of it. Now lay down. I'll get you some blankets, medicine and some water. The only thing you can get up to do is to go to the bathroom. If you want anything else I'll get it, but other than that you need to sleep." I sighed and he left to go get everything. He came back with everything in his arms. I wasn't too happy about taking the medicine, but Sasuke is pretty persuasive when he wants to me. After I take the revolting medicine. Sasuke wraps me up in a couple blankets and he set a pillow under my head and a cool washcloth on my forehead. He sat in the chair next to me when he was done. Every time I tried to talk he would tell me to shut up, or that he didn't care what I had to say and then he'd add a 'so shut up' at the end.

                I did end up falling asleep. Even if it did take me a couple hours. When I wake up I was sweating like crazy. It was so hot in the living room. I scrunch up my face and throw the blankets off of me and roll onto my back.

                "Really dobe? This is the tenth time." I feel Sasuke pick up the blankets and set them back onto me. He's really trying to kill me.

                "Temeee ..." I groggily say as I slightly open my eyes. "It's too hoooot." He sighs and take off one of the blankets.

                "Just keep it on." He walks back to his chair and sits back down.

                "How long have I been out?"

                "Long enough for me to watch two, two and a half hour long movies and finish my book."

                "So it's seven-ish now?"

                "Yeah."

                I lay my head back and sigh. I hate sleeping all day. Even if I am sick, I hate doing nothing. I sit up and see Sasuke glance over to me for a second.

                "Where are you going?"

                "Well ... the ... bathroom." I stand up and make sure not to make eye contact. I actually wanted to go make ramen.

                "Yeah, sure. Now where else are you planning on going?"

                "Just the bathroom."

                "Why do I not believe you."

                "I'm not sure." I walk past him and he trips me. He then stands up and puts his foot on my chest.

                "You were going into the kitchen, weren't you?"

                I hesitated. "No." He rolled his eyes and bent down picking me up. "Teme no! I really have to pee! Put me down!" Okay, so I didn't have to pee but I wanted ramen. He laid me down on the couch again and I tried to get up, but Sasuke pushed me back and sat on my back so I couldn't get up. That's when Iruka walked past. He stops, backs up, and looks over at us in confusion.

                "Can you make him some ramen?"               

                "... uhm ... yeah, sure."

                "That's all you had to ask dobe."

                "How'd you know that's what I wanted?"

                "It's you, you're not hard to figure out."

                I sigh and stop struggling. I just wanted to make some ramen, is that too much to ask? I attempt to look over my shoulder to see his face, but it hurt my neck so I stopped and went limp.

                "Ne, Sasuke. Why do you care if I get better by tomorrow so much?"

                "Because it's Halloween. We're going out."

                "Where to?"

                "I don't know. Gaara wants to go somewhere."

                "Gaara? Is he okay with me coming too?"

                "He said he didn't care as long as you didn't do anything stupid."

                "Right. You two are so weird."

                Sasuke quirks a brow at me. "How is that?"

                "Well your relationship is. You're both complete asses to each other, but you're still friends."

                "It's a complicated friendship." You could say that again.

                Iruka walks in the room a couple minutes later with ramen in his hands. Sasuke got off me and I sat up grabbing my ramen.

                "I have to go," Sasuke says grabbing his things. "Naruto, go back to sleep when your done. I'll be back tomorrow."

                "Yes, mother." I smile as Sasuke leaves. I slowly slurp down my ramen since it was still hot. I see Iruka sit in the chair next to me and smile.

                "He seems to really care about you."

                "You think so?"

                "Of course. I see the way he looks at you, I'm surprised you haven't."

                If I remember back to when we would recently hang out, I do remember catching him looking at me in a different way. I smile and set down my empty bowl. I don't know how Sasuke ended up liking me at all, but I'm really glad it happened. I get to see a side of him that no one else does, and that makes me feel special. He makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I know it's corny, but it's true. When I'm around him I just want to smother him with affection. I really ... love him.

                "What are you so smiley about?" Iruka questioned.

                "Nothing." I look over and my smile widens. I move my eyes to my phone on the table. "Don't overreact to this, but ... I think I love him." I glance up to him after a few seconds of silence. He was smiling even more than I was.

                "Aww!" He quickly sat himself next to me and hugged me tightly. "My little Naruto is growing up so fast!"

                "Iruka." I laugh and hug him back before he let go. Even though he overreacts to everything, and even though I tell him to relax. I wouldn't want him to change for the world.

                "Okay, okay. I just have to go tell Kakashi how proud I am of you!" He gets up grabbing the phone as he left. I smile and shake my head laying back down to go to sleep. My phone startled me by vibrating causing the whole table to shake. I grab it and look at the screen. I don't know this number.

                From 555-1132: Hey Naruto, it's Itachi. I just wanted to warn you that I'm about to talk to Sasuke. He might be in a sour mood later.

                To Itachi: He'll get over it eventually, may the odds be ever in your favor.

                I really hope that I'm right. He might cancel tomorrow if he doesn't get over it. I don't expect him to get over it so soon, so I'm expecting him to want some space from everyone. I hope they'll start to act like brothers again after this, though Sasuke is a wee bit stubborn so things might not work out so well.

XXXXX

                Surprisingly, Sasuke didn't cancel. He sure didn't seem to energetic though. Even though he is never normally happy or energetic looking, he was even less so than usual. I should have warned him or something, because now I feel bad that I knew and said nothing. I could have done something to at least slightly prepare him for it. I honestly don't think he's angry over all of it. I just think that he is trying to make sense of it and whether or not to believe Itachi. He just needs some time to think about it, so that's what I'll give him.

                Sasuke had his hands in his pockets as we walked with Gaara and Hinata. There was an awkward silence right now. I think Hinata might be slightly cautious because of the mood that was radiating off of Sasuke. Gaara doesn't ever talk when I'm around, and me, well, I'm not really good at talking in an awkward silence. I just hope no one asks Sasuke why he's so gloomy.

                "Uchiha, what is your problem? You look extra depressed today." Of course Gaara would ask that as soon as I wished no one would. Sasuke just rolls his narrowed eye over to Gaara and glared at him. "What?"

                "Go fuck yourself." Alrighty then! Somebody's a little moody today.

                "Look here Sas-" Hinata grabbed Gaara and I stopped Sasuke from punching him. Sasuke is probably for any excuse to punch the living shit out of someone right now to take out some of his anger that he has built up, and Gaara is giving him exactly what he wants. Sasuke scoffed turning around and walking the opposite direction. I look between Hinata and Sasuke, eventually I give her an apologetic look and run after Sasuke.

                "Sasuke, wait!"

                "Don't follow me Naruto."

                "Not happening."

                "Naruto. I'm not kidding around with you."

                "Neither am I."

                He stops, only turning to glare at me. I keep my face stiff. If I wasn't his boyfriend, he'd probably would have hit me by now. I know I said I'd give him space, but he needs some sense beat into him. Maybe pissing him off even more will do the trick.

                "I know why you're pissed."

                His eyes narrowed even more. "How the hell do you know?" He snapped.

                "He told me. He also told me not to mention it to you because he didn't want me to get involved and have you get pissed at me and because it's a family thing." Sasuke's eyes were filled with rage. He lifted up a balled fist and I closed my eyes tightly, but no pain came. I open them again confused. Why didn't he punch me instead of the tree? "You didn't you punch me?"

                "How the fuck could I punch you?" He snapped pulling his bloodied fist away from the tree. "You knew everything ... this whole time, so tell me ... do you believe any of it?"

                I looked him directly in the eyes. "All of it." He clenches his teeth and looks away. "I know it must be hard for you to believe, and even if you do end up believing it, you probably won't forgive Itachi immediately. I just want you two to stop hating each other." We stood there in silence for what seemed like a very long time until he finally spoke.

                "I never could bring myself to actually hate him. No matter how much I tried I always ended up still loving him at the end of the day. I wanted to hate him. I should have hated him, but I couldn't. He's always been there for me."

                "Even when you didn't know about it." He looked at me confused. "He tested me to see if I was good enough for you. I failed, but then I passed." I see the corner of his mouth turn up ever so slightly making me smile. "He really does love you, you know."

                "I know."

                "Then how about we go catch up with Gaara and Hinata and go have some fun. We can continue to talk about it later if you want. This should help take your mind off of it too." He waits a minute before looking me in the eyes and nodding. I smile grabbing his hand and squeezing it. We walk for a long time. The town was getting more and more crowded by the minute. I go to let go of his hand so people wouldn't stare at us and make Sasuke even more angry, but he just squeezes telling me not to let go. As we walked down the streets, little kids kept pointing us out. It was making me uncomfortable because the kids showed their parents and their parents gave us a disgusted look. Sasuke must have sensed my uncomfortableness because he glares over to the onlookers. Most looked away, but some didn't get his warning. The people that didn't look away were lucky that I saw Gaara's red hair. If I didn't pull Sasuke down the street quickly then he probably would have beaten the shit out of them.

                I pull him through a crowd all the way to them and tap on Hinata's shoulder. She immediately snaps her head back to see who poked her. When her eyes met my own she smiled.

                "Naruto, you guys came back." When Gaara heard that he looked back.

                "Yeah, I just had to talk to Sasuke."

                "Well I'm glad you decided to come back."

                "You're not going to be an ass are you, Sasuke?" Gaara says crossing his arms.

                "I guess you'll find out."

                "So ... uhm ... where are we going?" I ask before they somehow turn that conversation into a bickering match.

                "That house." Gaara points down the road to a crowded house. A party? Again? I really didn't want to go to another party. Last one didn't turn out so well. I squeeze Sasuke's hand hoping he would get the hint.

                "I actually just remembered, we have somewhere to go. We'll see you guys some other time." Gaara seemed confused as Sasuke pulled me away from them and I wave as I disappear from their view. So he got the hint. I let my eyes wander around the streets and I see Itachi and Deidara. I met Itachi's gaze. He smiles and I smile back. I wonder what he's doing. I don't want Sasuke to see him and get in a pissy mood again, so I turned us the other way.

                "How about we just go back to your place and play video games. I've gotten better. I bet I can beat you now."

                "Hn. You wish."

                "No, I know I can." I smirk and look over to him. "Kiba has been playing against me some times. I think I'm getting the hang of it."

                "You may be getting better, but you'll never beat me."

                "I'll make you eat your words." I smile and look forward. A white haired boy was walking towards us with a smirk.

                "Hey, Sasuke. Haven't heard from you in a while. Why are you going this way? The party is that way."

                "Yeah, I know. That's why I'm going this way. I'm going home."

                "What? You never miss the parties! Why start now?"

                "Not interested." Sasuke said glaring at him.

                "This used to be your thing you looked forward to though. You're the party king. What happened to you?"

                "I grew some common sense. Look, I have someone's ass to beat so I have to go."

                "At least you still kick ass."

                "Yeah, call of duty can get pretty intense." Suigetsu looked down at our hands and his eyes went slightly wider.

                "Whoa, wait. You two? You mean this is who you're with? Dude! I thought you were with some hot chick or something ... not ... "

                "Do you have a problem, Suigetsu?"

                "Well, I wasn't expecting you to be gay. And I definitely wasn't expecting you to be dating ... him."

                Sasuke tries to let go of my hand to punch him in the face, but I held onto him firmly. Quickly, I pull him away from Suigetsu. I have to get to his house without any more interruptions. We quickly walk down the street and pass everyone. I saw a lot of people we knew, including Kiba, Iruka, and Kakashi. I even saw Sakura and Ino. Luckily I made it so we avoided all of them. When we got to Sasuke's house, we went straight into the kitchen to get some food.

                "Want something to eat?" Sasuke offered, opening the fridge.

                "Yeah." I leaned on the counter looking at the raven haired boy, who had his face shoved into the fridge. How did I get someone like _this_ ... to like _me_? I'm still baffled about it. He closes the fridge grabbing a pizza box. He turns the oven on to the desired temperature and leaned on the counter next to the oven. I must have been making a strange face because Sasuke was giving me a strange look.

                "What are you smiling for?"

                "I'm smiling? I didn't even know." I laugh and push off the counter making my way over to him. I close my eyes and put our foreheads together. "I guess I'm just happy I met you."

                "Hn. Don't be getting all sappy on me now dobe."

                "I can't help it." I laugh and open my eyes to look into the black ones. "I'm just so happy." I go to back up, but Sasuke had other plans. He pulls me right back to him planting his lips on mine. He pulls me as close as he could running his hand to my neck. I move my hands up to his head and through his hair earning a low moan from the rave. Just as I started to get into it, the oven beeps to tell us the temperature. I pull away and glance at him waiting for what he was going to do. I didn't really want to stop, so I was hoping he'd just turn it off.

                He must have seen the desire in my eyes because he did exactly what I'd hoped. He smirked and pushed me all the way to the opposite wall of the kitchen near the archway. He pushes his tongue into my mouth. It didn't last long through. I turn him and me both into the living room. After a lot of twisting, flipping, and turning we ended up in his room. My back to his bed with him hovering overtop of me slightly panting. We don't move or talk for a long time while we just look at each other. Both of us probably trying to figure it out, waiting for confirmation from the other. Were we really going to? I said I wouldn't, but part of me really, really wants to.

                "Are you ready?" Sasuke questions. I could feel my heart beat quicken. Am I? I mean, I have never felt this way about anyone before. Buy was I ready for this? I contemplate on it for a second.

                "Yeah."

                Sasuke hesitates for less than a second before dropping his head to mine, yet again reclaiming my lips. I am ready for this. It's been a month since we started dating. That's long enough ... right? I won't regret this, will I? What if people find out and pick on Sasuke? He doesn't deserve that. What if he doesn't like how I do it? What if he thinks I'm terrible at it and he breaks up with me over it? He wouldn't do that. Right? Has he done this before? He seems so experienced. I-I wouldn't mind if he has I guess. Since most teens do this way before they're seventeen. And he's so attractive and sexy. How could he still be a virgin. So many people throwing themselves at him. Why do I always over think everything? Why did I have to think of all this now? My inner Iruka is coming out at a terrible time. All of a sudden I feel Sasuke pull away.

                "What's wrong?" He says sitting down next to me, eyes full of concern.

                "N-nothing. Why would anything be wrong?"

                "You had a pained expression on your face, and when I asked if you were ready you hesitated. Tell me what's on your mind."

                I pause and think about whether I should tell him or not. After a minute of silence I sigh and sit up next to him. "It's normal for teens to do this, right? To go off and have sex. Some people even do it with people they don't even really know or people they aren't dating, so why does this not feel right? I mean, I really love you but I just ... don't kno-" I stop and my eyes widen. I just told him I loved him. That was not supposed to come out. I felt my face start to burn. My gaze slowly moves over to a slightly smiling rave. "I-I-I didn't ... uhm ... mean to uh ... say that ... it just s-slipped ... out. I-I'm sorry! It was way to-"

                "Naruto," I shut up and looked to my hands. "I figured you weren't ready yet. That's why I stopped. I don't want to rush you. It's true that people even younger than us do that, but just because a lot of other people do it, it doesn't mean you have to feel pressured to do it as well. And don't feel like I'm going to pressure you into it just because you like taking things slow. I'll wait, it's fine. Honestly, I've never done this either so I was pretty nervous too." My eyes snap to him. He's never? "Oh, and Naruto." He looks me in the eyes and waits for a minute. "I love you too."

                I stared at him for a minute waiting for the realization to kick in. He ... loves me? My face immediately grew hot once more. He just told me that he loved me. No one has ever done that in the way that he meant it. We just said that we ... Stop over thinking this stupid. They're just three words ... with so much power and meaning behind them. I look down and smile like an idiot. This went a lot better than I expected.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Uh-Oh**

                Ah, December. I inhale the brisk, cold air deeply and release it. I love it. It's so beautiful. The first snow was always so white and it seemed to sparkle. I don't mind the snow, or the cold. Winter is my favorite season. The trees were so pretty, coated in all the snow. The only ugly part is later when the cars turn the snow on the road into disgusting brown slush.

                I get into the car with Iruka. He starts up the car and pulls out of the driveway. The only thing that would make winter better, is no school. I had a good feeling about today though. Something good was going to happen, I just know it. I was feeling really optimistic.

                "Why are you so smiley?"

                I smile even more and look over to Iruka. He was also smiling. "The snow."

                "You like it?" He casts a quick glance at me then back to the road.

                "Of course! I love it! Its so pretty."

                "Well that's something I've never heard." He paused for a second. "That someone loves snow, that is. When it's not coming from a little kid anyway."

                "What are you talking about? I'm still a little kid. I'm just a little kid in a seventeen year olds body."

                "Of course, how could I have forgotten." He smiles and I start to hum Christmas songs after a moment of silence. Iruka laughed and started to sing. We ended up both singing loudly by the time we parked in the parking lot. We got out of the car, both of us still humming as we walked through the doors. People were staring, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to stop having fun just because people looked at me funny. I look to my right and see Kagura glaring at me. I look away and continue down the hall. When we got to Iruka's room he turned to me and smiled.

                "I'll see you in English then." I nod and walk to my locker and put my backpack in. I grab my morning books and go into my homeroom. I glance around and see Gaara sitting in the back with his arms crossed. He met my eyes and I nervously smile. The only thing he does is nod, his face unmoving as a bolder. The nod was an improvement though. He never used to even acknowledge my existence, now he nodded. I'm not expecting him to ever smile. The day he smiles at me is the day hell freezes over. He will forever glare at me.

                I take my seat and busy myself with my book. Recently, no one has bothered me. I'm actually quite surprised. The only reason Gaara stopped is probably because of Hinata. Now the only one who does minor things to me is Kagura and his cronies, but even he hasn't so much as spared a glance at me, Today was the first time he looked at me since we got suspended. I don't know why he's stopped all of a sudden, not that I mind at all, but I just wonder why. Even Gaara has a reason.

                The classroom filled at a steady pace. As everyone came in, I looked out of the corner of my eye to see who it was, not that I honestly cared. I was just curious. Now-a-days homeroom goes by fairly quickly. The bell already rung for first period, and soon after that for second. I no longer skipped gym since I didn't want to fail it. It could be fun at times, especially since I had Sasuke in there now. Sometimes Gaara would even do stuff with us. One time we were playing dodge ball and someone whipped the ball and hit me in the face really hard. Sasuke was out so he couldn't do shit, but Gaara picked up the ball and as the guy was cheering with his friends, he turned back around and Gaara whipped that ball so hard that when it hit him he onto his butt. The funniest part was that Gaara had hit him right in the crotch.

                It sucked today because Sasuke wasn't in gym, so I figured I would have been alone. But surprisingly Gaara willingly stayed with me. It was kind of awkward at first, but eventually I warmed up. He was actually a pretty cool guy. He's definitely changed for the batter since the beginning of the year.

                By the time lunch had come around, I still hadn't seen Sasuke, or Kakashi for a matter of fact. I walk down the hall to Iruka's room. There was a muffled yell. As I got closer to his room, the muffle got louder and clearer. I stop in front of the door, deciding on whether or not I should open it. Why was Iruka yelling, and who was he yelling at? It's not like him to yell. What could have a student done to piss him off so badly? I gently open the door and take a couple steps in before halting. Kakashi? I looked around for someone else, but no one was in here but them. Iruka was yelling at Kakashi? Neither of them broke their fierce glares at each other to look at who'd entered the room.

                "How fucking could you?!" Iruka clenched his fists. I had heard Iruka swear before either.

                "U-uhm ... Iruka?" I had something I wanted to talk to him about. He seemed so happy this morning. How could such a great start of the day turn so sour? Maybe I shouldn't have interrupted.

                "Not now! I don't have time for you right now, Naruto! Go be useless somewhere else! Just leave!" My heart was beating rapidly and my stomach dropped to the floor. I slowly backed up from the room and closed the door. Iruka had never said anything like that to me before, even when he was beyond angry. I could feel tears welling up in the corner of my eyes. I quickly blinked them away, I shouldn't cry over something so trivial. Even though I kept thinking this, Iruka's hurtful words kept replaying over and over again in my head. It hurt so much. I have known Iruka for such a long time. He was the first person to ever trust me, or even acknowledge me at all. My heart felt so heavy right now. I look up with my vision slightly blurred. Kiba.

                "Kiba. I need to talk to yo-" He walks right past me without even looking at me. "Kiba?" I turned to face him confused.

                He stops and glares back to me. "What the hell do you want?"

                "K-Kiba ... what's-"

                "You! Now shut the hell up and get out of my face you asshole!" Kiba immediately stormed away.

                My eyes were wide. What just ... happened? I felt tears well up with more force now. What did I do? Why does everyone hate me today? I slowly turn back around, mouth slightly opened. I close my mouth and drop my eyes to the floor letting my bangs cover my face. I walked down the hall like a zombie, lost in thought. I couldn't keep the tears back any longer. One free tear slowly rolled down my cheek. I clenched my jaw and stopped when I saw a pair of unmoving, familiar black shoes in front of me. I quickly wipe my eyes and look up. Sasuke. I weakly smile.

                "H-hey Sasuke." I see him furrow his brows. I try and smile even more, but it actually hurt me to do so.

                "Why are you crying? Do I need to beat the shit out of someone?"

                "N-no! It's no big deal."

                "Dobe, you were crying. It's a big deal to me." He walks closer to me. "Tell me what's wrong." I felt tears sting my eyes again. The only one who cares right now is Sasuke. I don't ever want to lose him.

                "Iruka and Kiba just yelled some ... not so pleasant things to me."

                "That shouldn't be new to you. From them, yeah maybe its new, but you used to get it daily." Both of our eyes snapped open and I slowly looked back.

                "What the hell do you want, Kagura?" Sasuke snarled.

                "Oh, me? What could I possibly want?" He smirked and stepped closer. Sasuke quickly stepped in front of me. "Say, Uchiha ... what could you want?"

                "Shut up."

                "No, answer. What do you want from him?"

                "I swear to fucking god Kagura. If you don't shut the fuck up."

                "Want with who?" I asked stepping out from behind Sasuke.

                "With you of course, you silly goose." Me? "You see. Uchiha boy here is using you." Sasuke lunged at him, pinning him into the wall. Kagura just smirked.

                "What are you talking about?" I look over to Sasuke. Panic rushing through me like a tidal wave. "Sasuke?"

                "Sasuke was told by some people to get close to you and get to know everything about you so he could end up making your life a living hell." Sasuke pushed on Kagura harder making him couch.

                "Sasuke ... that's ... that's not true." I backed up slightly shaking my head.

                "Naruto, let me explain." He let go of Kagura letting him fall to the ground as he stepped closer to me.

                "It's true Naruto." Kagura coughed. "Tell him, Sasuke. Tell him how you practically volunteered to do it. Don't you think he's gone through a lot today? Why don't you just be the icing on the truth cake. No one likes him or wants him around. His precious 'friends' already proved that, now it's your turn."

                Sasuke snapped his head back to him. "You bastard. You did all of that." Sasuke grabbed him and punched him in the throat.

                "Sasuke?" Tears were yet again about to overflow.

                "..." He walks closer putting a hand on my arm with pleading eyes. "I can explain."

                "It's ... true?"

                "...Yes." His face looked pained. I harshly pushed him away. "Naruto, wait."

                "What am I to you? Am I just some fucking joke to you? Your play thing? Just something to pass your worthless pathetic time? Was our whole relationship, or whatever the hell we had going on here just some big lie? We're you lying to me this whole time? Since the beginning? I fucking trusted you, Sasuke! And you throw my trust right back in my face like it's trash! The only reason why I'm here in this forsaken world is because of my friends and family, because of you Sasuke. People only get close to me to use me, so why did I expect something different from you?" The tears of anger and betrayal scaring my cheeks.

                "No!"

                "Then what the fuck am I to you?!" I snapped clenching my fists. I never raised my voice, but now I can't help but not to.

                "You're my boyfriend, Naruto! I love you, you know that!"

                "Don't pull that shit on me! You only started sating me because you had to!"

                "Naruto, listen to me!

                "Why the hell should I?" I backed up, tears steadily rushing from my eyes now. "Everything that you've ever said to me has been a lie."

                "It hasn't been a fucking lie!"

                "Would you believe that if you were me? Your whole purpose to dating me was to ruin my whole life. Well guess what ... you've succeeded. Congratulations, you have just made me realize what I should have realized so very long ago. This life isn't worth all of the shit I've pushed it through. And for what? False hope? Again, congratulations, Uchiha. You have fulfilled your purpose dealing with me."

                "Now, Naruto. This is the part that you run home and go finally kill yourself." Kagura said making the Uchiha snap his head back with a death glare and he grabbed him punching him in the face.

                "If that's what you want." I started slowly walking backwards seeing Sasuke look to me with wide eyes and he started to run to me, but Kagura tackled him to the ground. Giving me time to turn and run home. I could hear Sasuke screaming my name as I run. His voice getting further and further away by the second. I ran all the way. My lungs and legs were on fire. I didn't know that my heart could feel this ... destroyed. Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? Everything, I probably did a lot to deserve this. I can't believer I feel for him. I was just so gullible. I wanted him to be my friend. I wanted him to like me ... I loved him.

                I burst through my door stumbling onto the floor. I start to shake violently as I let the tears escape my eyes. I held myself up, hovering over the floor on my hands and knees.

                No one would care.

                "I ... don't want to believe you."

                But you know it's true.

                "... I know."

                Look, it'll be fine.

                "No. It won't."

                I get up and walk over to the kitchen grabbing a water from the fridge and up to the bathroom grabbing a bottle of pills. I walk into my room and sit on my bed. Tears now dried on my cheeks.

                What are you doing?

                "What that bastard wanted from the beginning. He already got what he wanted, why not just finish it off."

                Look, Naruto, don't you think this is overreacting? Put down the pills. Don't give that damned Uchiha was he wants. Live. Rub it in his face that you don't care.

                "That's just it ... I do care."

                Naruto. Please. Put them down. I know I said a lot of mean things to you before, but I don't want you to die.

                "This will be the last time we talk. I can't believe that I'm actually going to miss you."

                After that, I stopped myself from hearing anything I had to say to myself. I have to tell Shikamaru something. I set my items down and picked up my phone. As I dialed his number I started to shake quietly whispering "I'm sorry." To no one in particular. Just to everyone.

                "Naruto, what do I owe this occasion?" I opened my mouth to talk, but nothing came out. Hearing his voice made me start to cry silently again. "Naruto?"

                "S-sorry, I just got caught up for a second." I nervously laugh. He didn't reply as soon as I'd hoped he would. Please tell me he didn't already catch on.

                "That's fine, what's happening over there?"

                "Oh, nothing in particular, why do you ask?"

                "Your voice is trembling."

                "...It is? Oh." I nervously laugh again trying to cover it up. "I just am so happy I can't contain myself."

                "Don't lie to me Uzumaki."

                "I'm not, I'm not! Promise. I just called to tell you ... you're the best friend I've ever had. I love you Shikamaru."

                "I love you too? Naruto what's-"

                "Yeah. I hope you have a wonderful day too, hope you finally realize you like Temari ... bye." I hang up and curse myself for letting my voice tremble so badly when I said bye. A couple of seconds passed and he was calling me back. I set my phone on my desk and grabbed the bottles again. Shikamaru was bombing my phone nonstop. I open the bottles dumping a lot of pills into my hand and throwing him into my mouth and taking a drink, swallowing them all. There was about twenty pills that I swallowed. It should work soon. I quickly grabbed a paper and pencil sketching down an apology letter for Iruka, Kakashi, Shikamaru, and Kiba. I wrote everything down on the paper explaining what happened. By the time I finished I felt dizzy. I tried to stand, but I fell, knocking the bottle of pills off of my bed sending them scattering. That's all I remember before I blacked out.

XXXXX

                My phone rang on my desk. I moved my glare over from the white haired man standing in front of me over to my cell phone. Shikamaru. I can call him back later. It ended, and just as I was about to talk again, it started ringing again. For the love of ... I hastily pick it up and answer.

                "Yes, Shikamaru?"

                "It's Naruto. He called me and he was acting funny. He hung up before I could ask what happened, but now he won't answer his phone. It sounded like he was crying. Iruka ... Naruto might of tried to commit suicide." I was in complete shock. My eyes were practically bugging out of my head.

                "Naruto, he ... wouldn't."

                "Wouldn't he?"

                "Thank you Shikamaru." I quickly hang up and look at Kakashi. "Shikamaru thinks that Naruto tried to commit suicide." Kakashi's visible eye went wide. Without conformation from either of us, we ran out of the school and into Kakashi's car.

                "What happened?"

                "He couldn't ask him. He hung up." I nervously wring my hands. What could of happened? "Kakashi ... what if he actually did do it? What if we don't get there in time? I-I don't know what I'd do if he died." My eyes go wide. "Oh my god Kakashi, what if it was because of me? I told him some mean things all because I was so angry. I-I didn't mean to."

                "It's not your fault Iruka. Don't do this to yourself. We'll figure out everything later. Right now our top priority is to find Naruto." I nod. He's right, but I still couldn't help but feel slightly responsible. Kakashi was driving as fast as possible without crashing and burning. We finally got to my house and I unbuckled and shot inside, barely letting the car stop before I jumped out. I run up the stairs quickly glancing to the bathroom as I sprinted by. I heard Kakashi right behind me. Please be okay, Naruto. I slammed open his bedroom door and my heart sank. My eyes wandered to the pills scattered all over with a familiar blond boy on the ground as well.

                "No." I whisper and rush to his side. "Naruto!" I carefully cradle him into my lap and move away stray hair that covered his closed eyes. I had tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. All of a sudden Kakashi carefully picked Naruto up.

                "He may still make it. We have to get to the hospital." I nod and stand up glancing back real quick. In big bold letters on a piece of paper it said: TO IRUKA, PLEASE READ. I quickly grab it and shove it in my pocket as I run down the hall and into the back seat of the car with Naruto. Almost immediately, Kakashi pulls out of the driveway and starts to speed. Thankfully we got to the hospital without any police chasing us. Kakashi picked him back up and we rushed into the emergency room. I wasted no time to find someone.

                "Please, help. My son." I frantically look back to the limp blond in Kakashi's arms. The nurse's eyes widen. She takes quick steps over to him and looks at him.

                "I need this boy taken to the emergency room immediately!" A couple nurses came quickly and Kakashi laid Naruto on the bed. The nurses then wheeled Naruto out of my sight through a pair of double doors. My initial reaction was to follow, but the nurse put a hand on my arm. "Please, go wait in the waiting room." I feel Kakashi put a firm, steady hand on my shoulder. I look back and see a worried expression in his eye. He is doing his best to help me right now. He takes me to the waiting room, now gently holding my hand.

                We sit in the chairs. My adrenaline was still pumping like crazy. My heart was surely going to give out at any given moment from a heart attack. My whole body started to tremble as well. Kakashi pulled me closer to him and tightly squeezed me. This has to be some horrible nightmare. I clench my eyes shut and bite my lip. This can't be real. Naruto would never do something like this. No matter what happened. He is strong. He's put up with so much. What could have possibly happened? The note! I pick it up making Kakashi let go as I grab a crinkled paper from my pocket and flatten it on my leg.

                "What is that?"

                "A letter ... I think. It's Naruto's handwriting." I look up to him. I reach back into my pocket grabbing my phone and handing it to him. "Can you call and tell Kiba, Shikamaru, and Sasuke what happened?" He slowly nods taking my phone, he stands up and leaves.   I sigh as shaky hands unfold the paper.

                _Dear Iruka,_

_I'm sorry it came to this. Truly, I am. I didn't mean for it to happen, any of this. I really thought everything was turning around for me. I was so happy to meet you. Actually, I have a confession to make. The reason that I was always getting into trouble was so I could see you. You were the first and only person to give me the light of day back then. I never used to get attention, so I did what I could in hopes that you would notice me again. I have to thank you, Iruka. You have made my life so much better, even with all the lectures you gave me. You gave me the courage to keep trying and pushing forward. That's why I got to live so long, so thank you. As for your little outburst earlier today, I should have used some common sense. I heard you yelling, but I went in anyway. I'm not going to lie though. Your words did hurt, but I already know that you didn't mean it. I forgive you, please don't blame yourself for this. It wasn't even close to being your fault. The one who's at fault here is Uchiha Sasuke. He's done something that I cannot forgive. He's done something that I would only expect from the most bitter, coldhearted people. He agreed to make my life miserable. Enough that I would want to commit suicide. Since he already succeeded in making my life into something I didn't want to be a part of anymore, I figured I might as well give him what else he wanted. My death. He gained my trust. Made me fall in love with him. Just so I could find out that I was only being used. Maybe since I am going to die soon, I'll get to see my birth parents. If I think about that, it doesn't make me so sad. I know I might sound stupid for killing myself over something like this, but it meant so much to me. I don't know how long I have left, so I'm ending this here. Iruka. Tell everyone that I love them and I want to thank them for being there. And Iruka. I can't thank you enough. I love you ... goodbye._

_Your one and only,_

_Naruto Uzumaki_

I was crying at the very beginning of the letter, but now I'm bawling. I clench my eyes shut and hold my head in my hands. Naruto you idiot! When you get back, you can thank them all yourself. Minato, Kushina, please, send Naruto back home to us.

                I felt a hand on my knee making me snap my eyes open. Kakashi's eyes softened when they landed on mine. I grab the paper and hand it to him. He reads it over, his expression changing from sad to pissed in seconds. He gives me the letter and I put it back into my pocket.

                "I cannot believe that boy!" Kakashi growled. "What the hell is so badly fucked up in his head that he thinks that doing anything like that is even remotely okay?!" I squeeze his hand. "That explains why he won't answer his damn phone." Kakashi snarled.

                "What about everyone else?"

                "They answered."

                "And?"

                "Kiba's on his way. So is Shikamaru."

                "But he lives hours away. Are his parents okay with this?"

                "They were more than willing to bring him. They love Naruto. They also want to see him get better."

                "This boy. Doesn't realize that he has people who love him still here?"

                "He does. He just didn't want anymore pain in his life, and Sasuke just happened to be the insensitive teenager to send him flying past his limits of what he could handle anymore. He is a fragile boy, even if he doesn't like to admit it."

                After a while everyone showed up. Kiba, Tsume and Shikamaru and his parents. The waiting room was dead quiet. Not a single soul spoke. Everyone was probably too worried to speak. Ten minutes after Shikamaru and his family arrived, the nurse came in making everyone stand with eyes of anticipation. Seeing her enter the room made my stomach clench.

                "The boy is in critical condition, but I am glad to say that he will make it through this. The pills didn't have time to completely set in and start to work." I swear my heart nearly stopped. They were going to have to send me to the emergency room after this. "One of you may come visit him." I look around to see everyone else sit back down. Looks like I'm going. "Please follow me." I did as she said, following her down the halls until we stood out front of a door. "He's unconscious right now, we aren't sure when he's going to wake up." I nod and she lets me pass her.

                There on the bed before me lay a sleeping, living, boy. My eyes glazed over with tears as I sat myself next to him. I reach out a shaky hand and grab him. His hands were cold. This boy here in front of me has caused me so much pain. He's a pain in the ass 90% of the time. He gets me into trouble. I have to save his ass when he gets into trouble. He trusts people way too easily. He's been like this for as far back as I can remember ... but the thing is, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I love this hyperactive knucklehead to death, and I will do anything to keep him safe. He is my son, and I will be there for him no matter what.

                Hours pass by as I sit in the stillness listening to Naruto's steady breathing. Even though the noise calmed me, my mind wandered dangerously to the Uchiha boy that put Naruto into enough trauma to do this. I have some business to take care of. I just don't want to leave Naruto's side in case he wakes up. I want him to see that I'm still here for him just like I always have been. I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up. I'm just so relieved that I know he's going to make it through this. I sat beside him holding his hand for hours until someone came in and put a hand on my shoulder.

                "Excuse me sir, visiting hours are over."

                "Oh, alight." I take one more glance to Naruto before I frown and leave. I met Kakashi and everyone else outside. As I step out the doors, the all turned back to me.

                "Does he seem to be okay?" Kiba questioned waiting eagerly for me to answer.

                "Yeah, he seemed to be fine." I slightly smile as I see the relief run across everyone's face.

                "It's my fault, I yelled at him." He had a deep expression of pain etched onto his face. I put a hand on his shoulder making him look up at me.

                "It wasn't your fault, actually, the one who is at fault isn't present." I earned the look of confusion from everyone besides Kakashi and Shikamaru.

                "It's Sasuke, isn't it?" Questioned Shikamaru.

                "Yes, it is." I questioned everything that Naruto wrote in the letter.

                "I knew that Uchiha was bad news," Kiba snarled. "but I didn't think he'd sink this low."

                "I know. I'm going to have a chat with him next time I see him."

                "I think we all have something we are going to want to say to him." Shikamaru chimed in. "Mom, dad I'm going to stay at Kiba's until Naruto gets better. I hope you don't mind."

                "We don't mind, but now longer than a week okay?" His mother said with a weak smile as he nods. We all say our goodbyes and go our separate ways.

XXXXX

                I was determined to stay awake until Sasuke came home, but my plans don't always go as planned. I open my eyes and attempt to rub away the tiredness. I look around the room to see that it wasn't my room. Kakashi's room? I drag my eyes over to the night stand beside the bed. Make Out Tactics was laying there. Yeah, it's Kakashi's room. I throw the covers off of me and shakily stand up. I wonder how Naruto is doing. I get ready and walk down the stairs to the kitchen. Still no Sasuke? I do smell coffee though. I peek into the kitchen and see Kakashi pouring some of the said liquid into two cups. It's rare to see him up so early.

                "What's the occasion?" I smile and hug him from behind.

                "Nothing in particular, just thought you'd want some coffee when you woke up." He turns to me with coffee in hand. "Here." He grins handing me the cup. I gladly take it and take a few sips. There's nothing like coffee in the morning. "Oh, and I figured you should take a day off of work so I called in for you." My eyes shoot open and I look at him.

                "I can't! I have to go."

                "I know you feel like you have to, but even if you did you would constantly be thinking of Naruto and if he was alright. Go visit him. We all know how much you want to."

                As much as I didn't want to admit it, he had a point. I wouldn't be able to get any of my work done if I went to work.

                I look down into the brown liquid that sat still in the cup. "Thank you, Kakashi." I bring my eyes up to meet a dark one. He was smiling.

                "No problem. Do you want me to drop you off at the hospital before I go to work, or do you want to go about it when you want?"

                "I'll go later. I have somewhere I want to go."

                "Alright, I'm going in early since I have some work I need to get done. I'll see you tonight." He leans forward and quickly pulls down his mask and kisses me before he backs up and pulls his mask back into place. "I'll swing my the hospital when school is out. I'll probably have a couple of guests too." I smile and give him one last kiss before he leave for work.

                I got around and had some breakfast. By then it was noon. I get into my car and drive down main street to the Yamanaka's flower shop. I push the door open and a bell rings to announce that a customer has entered the store. A lady walks out from the back and greets me with a warm smile.

                "Hello Iruka, how may I help you today?"

                "Hello Mrs. Yamanaka, I am going to need your help." She raises her brows. "I need a bouquet of flowers, but I don't exactly know what would look good. I'm looking for something that has either a couple yellow flowers in the center. A sunflower would be great if you could possibly inquire that into the bouquet."

                "I've got just the thing for you." She beamed holding up her pointer finger indicating for me to wait. "Hang tight right there for a second." I nod and she goes into the back soon bringing out a white vase full of beautiful flowers. There was an assortment of blue, purple, pink, and white flowers. She sets it on the counter and walks over to the shop side of the store where a bunch of flowers were out for customers to pick. She grabs the best sunflower she could find and walked back behind the counter, carefully placing it into the center. She looks up to me for approval. When she sees my smile, her smile grows in size. "You like it?"

                "I love it. You really are the best flower arranger I know. Thank you so much Mrs. Yamanaka."

                "Well thank you Iruka. You're too kind." She pauses, unsure if she could ask something, but she decides to ask anyway. "Do you mind if I ask what you are getting this for?"

                "For Naruto."

                "Did something happen?" She looked mildly alarmed.

                "Uh ... yeah kinda, he just got hurt. He has to stay in the hospital for a little while, so I figured I'd get him something pretty to look at in that boring white room."

                "I see," She smiles at me and rings me up. "I hope he will get better very soon. He was always such a nice boy."

                I pick up the vase and pay her. "He sure is."

                I wave goodbye to her and get into my car. I park the car and go inside. A nurse greets me with a smile and she lets me go back to his room. I slowly walk into his room. He's still asleep. Even though I want to be here when he wakes up, I still am disappointed that he's not awake. I miss the bright blue eyes that would always be stunning no matter what. And all it took was one person to crush all of that.

                I set the vase on the side table and sit in the chair that is next to his bed. Couldn't Naruto see that he has so many other people here for him that actually care? He finally met someone he loved other than family or friends. He met someone he though loved him as much as he loved them. How could that boy do this to Naruto? Is he really so coldhearted that not even Naruto's warm personality could break it?

                There was movement coming from the doorway making my head snap up to see someone I was not expecting. Itachi Uchiha. I slowly stand up and narrow my gaze at him. What is he doing here? Oh wait, I forgot that Naruto was friends with him.

                "I have to say, I'm shocked." Itachi says in a calm and smooth voice as he walks into the room, stopping next to Naruto's bed. "I wasn't expecting this from him of all people." I carefully sit back down, but I keep my eyes glued onto him. Where did he hear about this? His calm gaze met mine. "You're confused. That's understandable. Word gets around fast. I also know that you don't trust me. That is also understandable, but trust me, I am here to see a friend. I don't intend to hurt Naruto any further than I already have." I let shoulders go slack a little bit, but I keep my guard up. My eyes still haven't left Itachi since he stepped foot in this room. One of the thoughts that I keep having is really bothering me. Why is he so damn attractive?

                "I figure since you heard about Naruto then you know what happened?" I move my eyes away from him to the blond boy in the hospital bed.

                "Actually, no. I have no clue to what happened at all."

                "... Then I guess I'll tell you since it has to do with your little brother." I look up to confused black eyes. "Your brother used him." There was a clear shock that flashed across Itachi's face. "But that is cutting it really short."

                Itachi shook his head in disbelief. "There isn't anything that boy won't do."

                "I brought the flowers Itachi." Deidara walks into the room with another bouquet in his hands. There was also a little teddy bear. "Oh. Uhm." Deidara's eyes met mine.

                "Deidara, this is Iruka. Naruto's guardian. Iruka, I presume that you know Deidara." I nod as Deidara smiles.

                "Here, I'll set that over here if you'd like." I quickly offer and he gladly hands me the flowers and teddy bear. I set them next to the one that I brought in. "Do you both live here in town?"

                "Yeah, we moved here a few years ago. Hey Iruka." I raise my eyebrows at him. "You haven't see the Akatsuki lately, have you?"

                "No, why? Are they on the move again?"

                "Not that we know of. I'm just figuring that since Naruto is in a weak state they'd try and make a move. They also most likely know about this, so keep an eyes out until this all blows over." I nod and he glances down at his phone. "We have to be going. It was nice talking to you. If I see Sasuke I'll be sure to tell him that you want to see him." They both leave before I could say anything else. Itachi seems a lot different than I remember, and since when were him and Sasuke on a talkable basis again? Did Naruto have anything to do with that? This boy, right here, that is laying in front of me sleeping, has changed the life of everyone that he's encountered so much and he doesn't even know it.

                Occasionally I would get up and look out of the window, but there wasn't anything nice to look at. Just a parking lot with the occasional pedestrians walking from their car to the building or vise versa. A nurse came into the room once to check up on Naruto. I had a short conversation with her. Finally I decided to leave the room to get a cup of coffee. I walk down the halls until I get to a room that had a strong sent of freshly brewed coffee. The smell is actually how I found the place. I pour myself a cup of the liquid and look around not wanting to leave the open room just yet. After ten minutes of me walking around aimlessly, I make my way back to Naruto's room to see three surprise visitors. Kakashi looks back and smiles.

                "School is out already?" I cast a quick glance up to the clock. Sure enough it was already almost four thirty.

                "No, I just wanted to leave so I hijacked two students and left." Kakashi said with a smirk. I narrow my eyes at him. Oh Kakashi and his smart ass remarks. Gotta love him. I smile and walk over to them. We decided to talk fro hours until Kiba's stomach growled. Shikamaru and Kiba both go down to the cafeteria leaving Kakashi and I. I hate it, but all we can do is wait.

XXXXX

                Why is it so white in here? Where am I? I warily sit up. A pain shoots through my skull. I reach up to the pain in hopes that I would be able to repress it. That's when I realize where I was. My eyes snap open. Am I ... dead?

                "No, sweaty. Not quite yet." A calming voice says behind me. I shoot to my feet cringing at the pain in my head. "You still feel pain, that should have given it up right away." There stood a beautiful red haired women right in front of me. She's so pretty. Who is she?

                "W-who ... w-where are we?"

                "Your in a dream right now, Naruto." A man's voice says as a blond haired man walks up to the women. He knew my name.

                "Y-you know my name?"

                "I hope I would know my own son's name." The man laughed. Son?

                "What are you talking about? My parents were killed!" I snapped stepping back. There is no way that these people can be my parents, right?

                "yeah, I guess we were killed."

                "That would explain why were here I guess. Hey, thanks for clearing that up for us, Naruto." The blond man jokes.

                "Stop screwing with me!" I glare at the two as they walk closer to me. I tried to back up, but I couldn't. I was stuck in place.

                "We're doing no such thing Naruto. We were summoned here to help. Everyone back on Earth, Iruka, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Kiba, Itachi, Deidara, Shikamaru's parents, Kiba's parents, they're all worried about you. We've come to send you back. Everyone has their time Naruto, don't end yours sooner than it's supposed to. No matter how much I want to hold you, I don't want you to be here anytime soon."

                "A life shouldn't be ended over this Naruto, we've seen some of what you've been through recently. You're so strong. Don't let the Uchiha be your downfall."

                "Yeah, get back there, find that Uchiha, and slug him a good one! Then send him to me so I can teach him not to fuck with an Uzumaki! You mess with my son and I will show you no mercy!" She raised her fist in front of her.

                "K-Kushina..."

                "Sorry." She laughs. "I got a little carried away." These two ... really are my parents. The pictures from the photo album came rushing back to me. I must have been so freaked out that I forgot them, how do you forget your own parents faces?

                I felt tears well up in my eyes. My parents are ... right ... there. I slowly reach out, still questioning whether this was real or not. When the tips of my fingers brush my mom's arm I jump at them both pulling them into a tight hug, the tears steadily streaming from my eyes now. They both were shocked by my sudden hug, but they both hug back.

                I let go after a couple of minutes and back up looking at the two of them smiling. "I can't believe it's actually you." I paused and frown. "I can't believe that I didn't recognize you guys."

                "It's understandable that you didn't recognize us right away Naruto. You have only seen us in the photos in that album we gave to you, and we have changed quite a bit since those photos were taken too." Kushina grinned.

                I light up when that realization finally hit me. I get to ask them questions and I can tell them how I've been. I can actually _talk_ to my parents.

                "Oh man, I have so many questions that I want to ask you guys. I can't believe it's actually you guys." They both smile at me as I run my hands excitedly through my hair. "Where to start." I fold one arm across myself to hold the elbow of the other arm as that arm holds my chin in a thinking position. A smile erupts from me and I throw my hands in the air. "I got it! Why do I have mom's last name?"

                Minato smiled nodding. "That's a good question. It was actually a misprint on your birth certificate at first. We were going to fix it, but I thought better of it. I thought of it as a good thing since the Akatsuki knew my last name and it would be easy for them to find if you had my last name. They, however, did not know your mother's real surname. So the answer to your question is that we figured that you would be safer with your mother's surname."

                I take a moment to absorb the answer then nod and smile looking at my mom. "How come you look angry in a lot of the pictures in the album?"

                Her smile grows and she looks over to Minato. His eyes were wide and he was looking in the other direction. I have a feeling that she didn't know that he had put them in there. "Someone has to enforce the rules, and your father's methods weren't working too well."

                Minato nervously laughs and scratches the back of his head. I smile and look between them both. A thought kept popping into my head. I really wish that they could have met all my friends. I wish they could have seen everything I've done, even though I haven't done much. Kushina looks over to me and smiles. "So, Naruto, what are your friends names?"

                I perk up. "Kiba and Shikamaru. Kiba is pretty much like me, and Shikamaru is really lazy. I smile remembering all that we've done together. "Iruka would always take us places. We went camping once. IT was a lot of fun. We used to all always hang out all the time, but then I got adopted into a very ... uhm ... interesting family and I had to stop hanging out with Kiba." I paused and looked to the ground. "Well, I was supposed to stop, but I never really did. I just couldn't go over to his house anymore. If I did I had to lie and say that I was going to Shikamaru's. My adopted parents didn't like a lot of people. They didn't like Kakashi either for some reason."

                Kushina frowned and Minato furrowed his brows. "What was their names?" Minato asked.

                "Their last name was Haruka."

                Minato scowled hearing that name. "Are you still living with them?"

                "No."

                Relief washed over his face. "Good."

                "They didn't do anything to you, did they?" Kushina asked worriedly. "They tend to have a terrible attitude." She stopped talking and growled. "I swear if they hurt a single hair on your head I'll kill them both myself."

                "Well, they did a couple times, but it was never anything terrible. My adopted mom actually had a change of heart and started to be really nice to me. Then he killed her."

                Both of their eyes shoot open. "He ... killed his wife?"

                "On accident, but yeah."

                "How was that an accident?"

                "Well ... he uhm ... was kind of trying to ... uh ... kill me."

                "What?!" Kushina yelled rushing over to me looking me over like crazy. "He didn't hurt you, did he? How long ago was this? Did you get away okay? Did you beat him up?"

                "It was a long time ago. I got away fine. I was barely hurt."

                "That man." She growled. Both of them perked up and I arched a brow at them. They look at each other and sadly smiled, but of them turning to face me. "It looks like it's time for you to go back now." Kushina says with a hint of sadness in her voice.

                "Can't I just stay with both of you? I-I don't want to leave you. I just met you. There are still so much that I want to talk to you guys about."

                "It'll be okay Naruto, we'll meet another day. Just know that we love you, and don't forget our letter in the photo album. Keep smiling. Your smile is one in a million." Minato smiles messing up my hair.

                "And don't forget to eat your vegetables." Kushina adds quickly and smiles.

                "I will." I sadly smiled. I didn't want to leave them, but I had to get back to everyone else.

                "Goodbye, Naruto" They both disappear sending me spiraling into darkness. When it was completely black and I felt nothing, I knew where I was. My eyes felt heavy making me not want to open them, but I fight it with all that I could and opened my eyes halfway. A white ceiling. I'm in a hospital. I roll my head over to the side to see three bouquets of flowers and a small teddy bear. I wanted to cry, but no tears would come.

                I hear movement from the other side of the room, so I slowly look over. Iruka and Kakashi were talking. Kakashi meets my eyes and his eye widens making Iruka look back. His eyes met my dull, lifeless ones. I saw automatic tears flow down his cheeks and he was by my side in an instant with his arms wrapped around me. I tried to put some kind of emotion on my face, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't smile. I slowly move my hands around Iruka and pull him close. I clench my eyes tightly shut. I felt tears then rush down my cheeks.

                What was I thinking? Why did I do this to them?

                "I'm so sorry." I start to shake and Iruka rubbed my back.

                "It's totally not okay Naruto, it is totally not okay." I felt a hand on my knee, my guess it's Kakashi's. I force myself to stop crying and Iruka pulls away and wipes away his own tears. There was someone talking and they walk into the room. I look over and they stop talking to stare at me. Shikamaru smiles and Kiba starts crying and hugs me tightly. He backs up looking me in the eyes and I manage to muster up a weak excuse for a smile.

                "I'm so sor-"

                "You don't have to apologize."

                "No, I do. I don't know why I did this, why I put you all through this. You guys didn't deserve any of this. I was just so worked up, I wasn't thinking straight. I really am sorry." I adverted my eyes to my hands. There was a noise heard from the doorway that caused everyone to snap their eyes to look to see who it was. I felt my heart give out slightly. Why is he here? My eyes wander up to his black ones. They held the look of extreme pain that I'm betting everyone could see this time.

                "Why the hell are you here? Haven't you done enough?" Kiba snarled. Kakashi put a steady hand on his shoulder. Iruka stood up and his eyes were as cold as stone, and as menacing and intimidating as a rattlesnakes. I quickly glared and moved my gaze to the bed. I clench the sheets and my heartbeat quickened. I felt like I was going to throw up. My stomach was so tight. Sasuke moved his stare to the floor and creased his brows.

                "Naruto, I-"

                "It's best if you just leave Sasuke." Kiba snarled.

                "No, let him speak. This oughta be good." Iruka said crossing his arms across his chest. Sasuke brought his stare back to me making me feel uncomfortable. Even through the tension in the room, I feel as though I could fell Sasuke's heart beat, how nervous he is. Even with everything that he's done. I still wand to run over and hug him. I want to make everything go away like he used to do, but we all know that I can't do that. Not now. Not anymore.

                "I didn't mean for it to go this far. Yes, I admit that I did say that I'd get to know you to make your life worse." I flinch at that sentence. I don't need to be reminded of that. "Why? I honestly don't know. The only thing that I could come up with is because I thought that if I made someone else's life like shit, then that meant mine wouldn't be so bad." He paused for a second to calm his nerves. "I was so wrong. By doing all this I slowly started to realize what kind of person you were. You changed me into someone who doesn't want to live in the darkness anymore. You made it possible for Itachi and I to talk without killing each other again. You made me remember how to love again. I don't expect to come back to me or even forgive me at all. I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad that I met you and got to know you. Because if I hadn't, I would still be like I used to be. I'm sorry." He immediately left the room after his apology.

                My heart fell to the pit of my stomach. My eyes snap open and I look over to the door, my mouth shoots open as if I was going to say something, but I stopped. I want to be able to hold him again, but I know I shouldn't. No matter what he does to me, I can't stop loving him. I love him so much that my whole body aches when I think about him. I grab my chest and lean forward. What do I have to love him?

                No one said or did anything. No one moved. Nothing. It was like I was alone again. I took a series of deep breaths to clam me down. This is the worst feeling that I have ever felt. "I thought that love was supposed to make you feel good, not tear your heart in half."

                Iruka puts a hand on my leg taking a seat. "Love is one of those things where it can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. Sometimes you grow to love something you shouldn't, and it hurts so bad that you can barely stand it. Other times you love something that will bring you joy and love you back just as much. The heart works in mysterious ways, and I'm afraid that love is still a mystery to most people. You just have to figure it out on your own."

                "Excuse me," A quiet voice says from the doorway. "Visiting hours are over." Iruka look me in the eyes worriedly. I weakly smile up to him.

                "Okay, thank you for telling us. I'll see you tomorrow Naruto." Everyone left, leaving me to figure out what I had to do.

XXXXX

                Sometime during the week Itachi and Deidara visited, so did Gaara and Hinata. Of course Iruka, Kakashi, Kiba, and Shikamaru did too. Also a surprise 'visitor' came too, well you could call her a visitor but in all reality she just was working at the hospital. It was Sakura. It really surprised me to see her walk through that door. I got out a week after I woke up. I was half expecting Sasuke to come again, but he didn't. I should have expected that. It's been another two weeks since I got out of the hospital. People in school either avoided me like the plague, or started talking to me. As much as I wanted to talk to Sasuke, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I've been zoning out all the time. I'm not trying to make people worry, but as much as I'm spacing out I'm even starting to worry. I'm not depressed. I should be over all of this by now, right?

                If I'm over it, why does my heart still race when I even think about him. When I see him I grow weak. When I see him trying to not look at me, but failing, I could scream. He's like a damn disease.

                The bell rings snapping me back to reality. I was in school? I glance around to see it's Iruka's class. Sasuke was leaving the class already. I have to. I have to talk to him. I quickly stand and shoot out the door leaving my books. I frantically scan the crowd to se a duck's ass rounding a corner. I weave through the crowd yet again losing the raven. I glare and clench my teeth, The bell rings and I curse under my breath. I guess I'll just have to write a note.

                I quickly run to Iruka's room. Rip out a piece of paper from my notebook and scribble down a very short note and leave a very confused Iruka without speaking a word. I go to Sasuke's locker and shove it in the slot. I then go up the stairs to the roof where I told him to meet me. I set my books down near the fence and walk around in a panic. Did I just make a huge mistake? Maybe I shouldn't of told him to come up here. I should leave. I walks to the door then stop and turn back around. Dammit!

                I walk to the fence and lean on it, that's when I hear the door click open. Why is he so early? The bell just rang five minutes ago! My heart wouldn't stop going 100mph no matter what I did, so I decided to face the cause and turn around. There stood a raven haired boy with his hands in his pockets. Eyes as cold as ice. Why did I do this? I don't have anything to say. Dammit, I'm going to look like a complete idiot.

                "Why are you so early?"

                "I have a study hall this period. I had to go to my locker because I forgot my book that I needed." Well damn. Think stupid, think! "Did you want something or are you just wasting my time?"

                "Okay." I stutter making myself cringe. "I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it." I take a deep breath. "I should hate you right? I do."

                "Look Naruto, if you called me up here to tell me that you hate me-"

                "I'm not done." I glare and walk closer to him. "I do hate you, but no matter how much I try and stop thinking about you it never works. In fact, more thoughts of you than before come and invade my mind. Whenever I'm around you my heart races and my whole body grows hot." I clench my fists and walk closer. "I can't focus because of you." I stop unable to walk any further. The raven only inches from me. I look him in the eyes. "I can't seem to let go of you ... and that's because ... I still love you." Sasuke's eyes go ever so slightly wide. "Oh, by the way." I reach back and swing my fist forward with all my power, connecting it with Sasuke's jaw. He fell backwards into the door with a look of pure and utter shock written all over his face. "That was from my mom." I walk forward cupping his face in my hands. "And this is from me." I lean in closing the gap between us. The kiss was quick, but meaningful. I pull back blushing slightly. He looks at me full of bewilderment, and a what-the-actual-fuck-just-happened look on his face.

                "You ... forgive me?"

                "Not completely," I see him flinch back. "but I'm willing to try." I smile at him with my brightest smile. All of a sudden, he pulls me close to him. His hug was suffocating, but I loved it. I've longed for this moment for three weeks, and now I finally have it. We say up on the roof for the remainder of the day talking about anything and everything, but mostly about what we were going to do when we graduated. That's when Sasuke just smirked at me.

                "I bet you I can become an FBI special agent before you." Sasuke says playfully into my ear.

                I pull back smirking. "Oh, it's on like donkey kong teme."

 

THE END


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